Baseball Meets West Virginia On National BroadcastBaseball Meets West Virginia On National Broadcast

Adam Cecere

Baseball Meets West Virginia On National Broadcast

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The Penn State baseball team heads to Morgantown on Wednesday to face West Virginia at Wagener Field at Kendrick Family Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. with a broadcast on ESPN2.
 
Penn State, led by Mike Gambino, is 21-20 after splitting non-conference games against Georgetown and Navy last weekend.
 
West Virginia, coached by Randy Mazey, is 28-18 overall and 15-9 in Big 12 play after winning one of three games at Cincinnati this past weekend.
 
For updates on the Penn State baseball team, please check @pennstatebase on X and Instagram.
 
The 2024 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State meets West Virginia on Wednesday for a midweek contest.
  • The Nittany Lions are 73-44 all-time against West Virginia.
  • Penn State split non-conference games against Georgetown and Navy last weekend.
  • On Friday, PSU earned a 7-2 win over the Hoyas behind Travis Luensmann's career-high seven innings and season-high nine strikeouts.
  • Grant Norris and J.T. Marr each had three hits and two RBI, while Adam Cecere had two hits and drove in two runs.
  • The Nittany Lions have 56 homers this season, its most since hitting 60 in 2000.
  • Penn State's 35 homers in conference games are four more than any other Big Ten team.
  • Adam Cecere and Grant Norris are tied third in the Big Ten with 13 homers.
  • J.T. Marr is second in the Big Ten in average (.412) and hits per game (1.71).
  • After Billy Gerlott, Kyle Hannon, Tayven Kelley, Travis Luensmann and C.J. Pittaro graduated last weekend, Penn State has 12 college graduates on the roster.

 
SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA

  • West Virginia is coached by Randy Mazey in his 13th season.
  • Mazey announced he is retiring after the 2024 season and owns a 550-428-2 record in 18 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
  • Under Mazey, West Virginia is 364-268 and has made NCAA Tournaments in three of the last six full seasons.
  • West Virginia is 28-18 this season after winning one of three games at Cincinnati this past weekend.
  • As a team, WVU is batting .272 and averaging 6.7 runs per game.
  • Sam White has a team-best .319 average and 53 hits.
  • Reed Chumley leads the squad with 11 doubles and 12 homers to go with 37 RBI, while Kyle West has 12 homers and 38 RBI.
  • Preseason All-American JJ Wetherholt has returned to the lineup with 25 hits in 22 games, three homers and 18 RBI.
  • The Mountaineers have a 5.16 team ERA and allow a .257 opposing batting average.
  • Maxx Yehl leads the team with 20 appearances.
     

AGAINST THE MOUNTAINEERS

  • Penn State is 73-44 all-time against West Virginia.
  • The Nittany Lions have split the series each of the last two years.
  • In 2023, Penn State earned an 11-6 win at home, boosted by a little league grand slam by Kyle Hannon, and fell 14-2 on the road.

 
THE MARR-CHINE KEEPS HITTING

  • Grad student J.T. Marr's season average sits at .412 with a team-best 70 hits and 43 RBI.
  • Marr ranks second in the Big Ten with his .412 average, while ranking 11th in the country.
  • He also ranks sixth in the nation, and second in the Big Ten, averaging 1.71 hits per game.
  • Marr holds 44th in the country, and third in the conference, with 70 total hits.
  • He owns 22 multi-hit games, including 10 against Big Ten opponents, and 14 multi-RBI games. Marr has two games with four hits and eight games with three hits.
  • Marr tied a PSU game record with three doubles against FDU.
  • Among his 70 knocks, he has 14 doubles and six homers to go with 41 runs and a 1.058 OPS, good for eighth in the Big Ten. He has five homers and 22 RBI in conference play.

 
NEWCOMERS LEADING BALANCED LINEUP

  • The Nittany Lions rank Top 5 in the Big Ten in home runs per game (1.37; 2nd), sac flies (26; 2nd), slugging percentage (.491; 3rd), batting average (.302; 4th), doubles per game (2.07; 4th), total home runs (56; 5th) and runs per game (7.8; 5th).
  • Penn State has five players with a .301 or better average, five with a .407+ on-base percentage and seven with a .405+ slugging percentage.
  • Penn State, Illinois and Indiana are the only Big Ten teams with seven players owning at least 29 RBI.
  • The Nittany Lions' 56 home runs this year are its most since hitting 60 in 2000.
  • PSU's 35 homers in Big Ten games are four more than any other Big Ten team.
  • Graduate student J.T. Marr paces the squad with a .412 average and 70 hits. He owns 14 doubles, six homers, 43 RBI and 41 runs.
  • With a 29-of-73 start (.397) and 24 RBI at the plate in conference play, Bobby Marsh is hitting .336 with 50 hits, including nine doubles, one triple, five homers, 39 RBI and 30 runs. He owns a .336 average, while he ranks eighth in the league with his .397 average and sits fourth with 29 hits in Big Ten play.
  • Holding a .357 average (25-of-70) in Big Ten play, Bryce Molinaro owns seven homers and 10 doubles, among 52 hits, and 35 RBI to go with a .325 average. He had two homers at Indiana (4/12) and a go-ahead, three-run homer at Michigan State (4/21).
  • Graduate student Adam Cecere is hitting .338 with 47 hits, including 11 doubles and 13 homers, 41 RBI and a team-best 42 runs. He has a team-high 38 walks and nine hit-by-pitches. He is hitting .338 in Big Ten play with seven homers and 20 RBI.
  • He ranks first in Big Ten with a 1.193 OPS and second in slugging percentage (.698), while sitting fourth in on-base percentage (.495). He sits second in home runs in conference play (7), while sitting third in homers per game (0.32). He's also fourth in the conference in total walks (38).
  • Cecere is one of 16 current Division I players with 45+ homers and 157+ RBI in their career. Among active DI players, Cecere is 23rd in homers (45).
  • Grant Norris has 45 hits, including nine doubles, a triple, and 13 homers, 39 RBI and 32 runs.
  • Norris collected his first career multi-homer game against Northwestern (4/6) and had another at Michigan State (4/20), while adding an inside-the-park homer vs. Minnesota.
  • With Cecere (13) and Norris (13), Penn State has multiple players with 13+ homers for the first time since 1999 (Shawn Fagan, 13; Dan Beers, 13).
  • Cecere and Norris are tied for third in the Big Ten with 13 homers and Norris leads with nine homers in conference games, while Cecere is second with seven homers.
  • Joe Jaconski is sixth in the Big Ten in walks (34) and owns 46 hits, 39 runs and six homers.

 
GEORGETOWN, NAVY WEEKEND RECAP

  • Penn State split its non-conference games against Georgetown and Navy last weekend.
  • On Friday, the Nittany Lions earned a 7-2 win over Georgetown.
  • Senior Travis Luensmann fired his strongest start of the season.
  • He went a career-high seven innings with a season-best nine strikeouts and allowed two runs on five hits. He had multiple strikeouts in the first, third and fifth innings.
  • Grant Norris collected three hits, including two doubles and a triple, and two RBI, while J.T. Marr contributed three hits, including a double, two RBI and three runs.
  • Adam Cecere added two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs.
  • PSU fell 9-1 at Navy on Sunday.
  • Cecere and Molinaro each had two hits, while Matt Maloney had an RBI double.

 
NITTANY LIONS CLIMB RECORDS LISTS

  • With 13 steals this year, senior Kyle Hannon has moved up to fourth all-time at Penn State with 47 career steals. He is currently three steals behind Doug Keener (50, 1984-87) for third place.
  • Hannon ranks seventh in the Big Ten in total steals (13).
  • Senior+ Tayven Kelley owns 12 career triples, tied third all-time at Penn State. He is tied with Michael Campo (1997-00) and Jordan Steranka (2009-12).
  • Grad student Grant Norris' .567 career slugging percentage sits fifth all-time at Penn State, while sophomore Bobby Marsh's .517 slugging percentage is seventh all-time.
  • Grad students Adam Cecere and Grant Norris are tied eighth in a season at Penn State with 13 homers.

 
DOLLAR DOG NIGHT RETURNS

  • Penn State's Dollar Dog Nights became popular in 2023 and have returned with strong numbers in 2024.
  • April 16th's contest against Kent State was the Nittany Lions' fourth Dollar Dog Night of the 2024 campaign.
  • Penn State set a new attendance record (5,025), topping 5,000 fans for the first time in program history. PSU fans consumed a Dollar Dog record 8,591 hot dogs, breaking the previous record of 6,151 against FDU.
  • On Tuesday, PSU drew more fans that night than current Top 25 teams Alabama (3,672), Clemson (4,567), Duke (469), North Carolina (3,268), Oklahoma State (4,803), Oregon (2,070), Tennessee (4,617), Virginia Tech (1,035) and West Virginia (4,614) and MLB's Oakland A's (3,296).
  • The Nittany Lions welcomed 4,902 fans against FDU on April 9 and 3,505 fans against Pitt on March 26.
  • Across nine Dollar Dog Nights in 2023 and 2024, Penn State fans have consumed 35,177 hot dogs, averaging 3,908.6 per Dollar Dog Night.