Baseball Opens 2026 Season At Desert Invitational

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Penn State baseball team begins its 2026 season at the Desert Invitational in Scottsdale this weekend. The Nittany Lions take on Air Force on Friday, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. ET in Goodyear Ballpark. Penn State meets Grand Canyon on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET at Salt River Fields. PSU faces Kansas State on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET at Sloan Park.

 

Penn State’s games on Friday and Sunday will be streamed on MLB.com. Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on MLB Network with Gregg Caserta, Jesse Borek and Dan O’Dowd on the call.

 

Penn State, led by head coach Mike Gambino, looks to build on its momentum from the 2025 season in which it went 33-23, the second-most wins in program history.

 

Air Force, coached by Mike Kazlausky, won 20 games in 2025, including 12 victories in Mountain West action.

 

Grand Canyon, led by Gregg Wallis, picked up 31 wins last season and went 13-11 in the WAC.

 

Kansas State, coached by Pete Hughes, went 32-26 last year with a 17-13 mark in the Big 12. The Wildcats played in the NCAA Regional in Austin.

 

For updates on the Penn State baseball team, please check @pennstatebase on X and Instagram.

 

The 2026 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.

Leading Off

• Penn State opens its 138th baseball season at the Desert Invitational in Scottsdale.
• The Nittany Lions’ 2026 campaign begins against Air Force on Friday. The teams have met once previously with the Nittany Lions winning 12-2 in 2008.
• PSU takes on Grand Canyon on Saturday on MLB Network. The Lopes won all three games against PSU in 2018.
• The Blue and White meet Kansas State on Sunday. PSU is 1-3 all-time against K-State, last meeting in 2007.
• In Mike Gambino’s third year as head coach, Penn State looks to build on its momentum from the 2025 season.
• Penn State finished the 2025 season with a 33-23 mark, its second-most wins in a season and first 30-win season since 2011.
• The Nittany Lions reached the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament in back-to-back years for the first time since 2000-01.
• PSU won five Big Ten series for the first time since 2012.
• Among the Penn State returners are 2024 All-Big Ten selection Bryce Molinaro and 2025 All-Big Ten honoree Jack Porter.
• Molinaro enters 2026 as one of 20 returning DI players with 24+ homers and 15+ steals in their career (since 2023).

YEAR THREE UNDER GAMBINO

• Penn State’s 33 wins in 2025 are the second-most in program history, behind only 45 in 2000.
• PSU reached the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals in back-to-back years for the first time since 2000-01.
• Penn State tallied 30 wins in a season for the first time since 2011, while earning seven series wins and nine winning weekends.
• PSU’s 15 Big Ten wins last season are its most since 2012.
• The Nittany Lions won three Big Ten road series (at Northwestern, at Minnesota, at Rutgers) in a season for the first time since 2012 (at Iowa, at Minnesota, at Michigan State).
• Penn State won at least five Big Ten series in a season (vs. Indiana, at Northwestern, at Minnesota, vs. Purdue, at Rutgers) for the first time since 2012.
• PSU had eight Big Ten road wins last season, its most since winning nine Big Ten road games in 2007.
• Penn State earned a .500 or better record in Big Ten games in back-to-back seasons for the sixth time in program history (1995-96; 2000-01; 2003-04; 2007-08; 2011-12; 2024-25).
• Penn State’s 27 wins in Big Ten play over the last two seasons are its most in a two-year span since 2011-12 (not counting the Big Ten-only schedule in 2021).
• PSU was 11-3 in series/weekend openers last season and is 22-6 in series/weekend openers over the last two years.
• The Nittany Lions had five players selected in the 2025 MLB Draft: outfielder Paxton Kling (7th round, Rangers), shortstop Ryan Weingartner (8th round, Cardinals), pitcher Ryan DeSanto (12th round, Guardians), pitcher Chase Renner (13th round, Marlins) and third baseman Bryce Molinaro (17th round, Nationals). Molinaro returned for the 2026 season.

 

GAMBINO COACHING CONNECTIONS

• Penn State head coach Mike Gambino has coached two current MLB managers.
• Gambino coached Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera at Boston College (2012-15) before Butera was selected in the 35th round by the Tampa Bay Rays. Butera is the youngest manager in the MLB at 33 years old.
• Gambino also mentored Colorado Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer at Virginia Tech in 2007. Schaeffer was selected in the 38th round of the 2007 draft.
• At the Desert Invitational, Gambino will go up against Kansas State’s Pete Hughes. Gambino played for Hughes at Boston College from 1999-00 and then served on Hughes’ coaching staffs at Boston College (2003-05) and Virginia Tech (2007-10).

 

NITTANY LIONS DISPLAY POWER, SPEED

• Over the last two seasons, Penn State has featured strong numbers in homers and steals.
• Penn State is one of 13 Division I teams (only Big Ten team) with 152 homers and 168 stolen bases in the last two seasons.
• The Nittany Lions’ 152 homers rank fifth in the Big Ten.
• Entering the 2026 season, Bryce Molinaro (24) and Michael Anderson (23) have the most career homers among current Nittany Lions.
• Molinaro’s five multi-homer games are the sixth-most among returning DI players (since 2023).
• He is also one of 20 returning DI players with 24+ career homers and 15+ career stolen bases.
• Anderson (.551), Jack Porter (.549), Jesse Jaconski (.542) and Molinaro (.530) all have career slugging percentages over .530.
• In 2025, Penn State slugged 81 home runs.
• The Nittany Lions tallied 10+ runs in 23 games last season, tied for 18th in the country, and 12 times in Big Ten games. PSU’s 23 games of 10+ runs set a new program record, bettering 2000 (22).
• In 2025, Penn State had five players with 10+ homers in a season for the first time in program history, including returners Molinaro (13), Jaconski (12) and Porter (10).
• PSU had at least three players with 10+ homers for the second-straight season.
• Molinaro became the first Nittany Lion with back-to-back 10+ homer seasons since Sean Deegan (12 HR in 2011; 11 HR in 2012).
• PSU was one of 14 D1 teams with 81+ homers and 108+ steals last season.
• The Nittany Lions pace the Big Ten in total steals (108; 46th nationally) and steals per game (1.93; 46th).
• Penn State had 12 more steals than any other Big Ten team this season and broke the team record of 91 steals in 2000.
• Molinaro (8) and Cohl Mercado (8) have the most steals among returning Nittany Lions, followed by Jaconski (7) and Porter (6).

 

NEW ARMS BOLSTER PITCHING STAFF

• Penn State brought in 12 new pitchers ahead of the 2026 season, including three transfers.
• Redshirt senior Colin Fitzgerald joins the Nittany Lions after three seasons at Maine where he totaled 45 appearances and 31 starts on the mound. He has 13 wins and 171 strikeouts in 199 innings in his career.
• Sophomore Ben Hudson transferred from West Virginia, where he pitched in 18 games and made one start. He posted a 3-1 record with a 3.95 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 27.1 innings.
• Junior Kyle Emmons comes to Happy Valley from Towson where he made 32 appearances and struck out 43 batters in 41 innings.

 

BAHAMAS SERIES

• Penn State is set to battle Indiana State in a three-game series in Nassau, Bahamas on February 27-March 1 at Andre Rodgers National Baseball Stadium, a 5,000-seat venue.
• It will mark the first-ever NCAA Division I games on the island.
• The Atlantis College Baseball Series is run by bdG Sports.
• Game times are set for 6 p.m. on Friday, 3 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday.
• The Nittany Lions opened the 2025 season in the inaugural Puerto Rico Challenge.

 

PENN STATE SIGNS SATO

• On December 22, the Nittany Lions signed Japanese phenom pitcher Genei Sato.
• The 21-year-old right-handed pitcher is expected to enroll in Penn State classes in Summer 2026 and will join the Nittany Lions in Fall 2026 to compete in the 2027 season. Sato will be eligible for the 2027 MLB Draft.
• He spent three years at Sendai University in Shibata, Japan.
• Sato is considered to be a potential first-round pick in the 2027 MLB Draft.
• Before deciding to pursue a college path, Sato was considered a top prospect in the 2026 Nippon Professional Baseball Draft.
• While at Sendai University, Sato threw 170.1 innings, while posting a 2.22 ERA and 10.7 strikeouts per nine, while allowing six hits per nine and 3.3 walks per nine.
• His fastball has been clocked between 94-97 mph while topping out at 99. He also features a splitter (88-91), slider (82-85) and curveball (71-74).
• Sato competed for Japan in the US-Japan Collegiate All-Star Series last July, serving as the closer for the Japanese Collegiate National Team, recording 4.1 innings, allowing one run and striking out six.
• He is the 12th member of Penn State’s 2026 signing class, which includes the top prospect and three of the top nine prospects in PA, according to Prep Baseball Report. It also includes two of the top seven prospects in New Jersey.

   

   

   

  
  UP NEXT

• Penn State travels to Richmond for a four-game series at Pitt Field.
• The Nittany Lions meet the Spiders on Friday at 1 p.m. followed by a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday’s series finale at 1 p.m.