Baseball Travels To Richmond For Four-Game Series

RICHMOND, Va. – The Penn State baseball team continues early season action with a four-game series at Richmond this weekend, Feb. 20-22. The Nittany Lions will meet the Spiders at Pitt Field, beginning on Friday at 1 p.m. Saturday is a scheduled doubleheader, beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday’s finale is set for 1 p.m.

 

Saturday’s game time has been moved up to 10 a.m. from 10:30 a.m. to try to avoid potential weather later in the day. Game two of the doubleheader will begin approximately 35 minutes after game one.

 

Friday and Sunday’s games will be streamed on ESPN+.

 

Penn State, led by head coach Mike Gambino, went 1-2 on opening weekend. The Nittany Lions earned a 9-3 win over Grand Canyon, but fell against Air Force and Kansas State.

 

Richmond, coached by Mik Aoki, is 3-2 this season. The Spiders won the last two games of their series against Monmouth last weekend, but fell 10-0 to No. 10 North Carolina on Tuesday and picked up a 9-5 win over James Madison on Wednesday.

 

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 continues non-conference action with a four-game series at Richmond this weekend.
• The Nittany Lions earned a 17-6 win over Richmond in 2025, including a grand slam by Paxton Kling and homers by Nate Voss and Ryan Weingartner.
• Penn State went 1-2 at the Desert Invitational last weekend.
• PSU picked up a 9-3 win over Grand Canyon on Saturday, but fell against Air Force and Kansas State.
• Against GCU, Ben Hudson fired five strong innings in his Nittany Lion debut. He allowed one run and recorded a career-high six strikeouts.
• Jack Porter and Justin Turcovski each notched three RBI. Porter collected three hits, while Turcovski had two hits and a triple.
• Turcovski secured three hits and four RBI on the weekend, while Porter registered four hits, two doubles, and four RBI. Jayden Davis added five hits and two RBI.
• 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.

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 22-7 in series/weekend openers over the last three 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.

 

DESERT INVITATIONAL RECAP

• Penn State went 1-2 on opening weekend at the Desert Invitational, picking up a 9-3 win over Grand Canyon, but falling 15-3 against Air Force and 24-5 against Kansas State.
• Against GCU, Ben Hudson made his Nittany Lion debut on the mound and fired five innings, allowing one run and recording a career-high six strikeouts.
• Jack Porter and Justin Turcovski each drove in three runs. Porter had three hits, including a double, while Turcovski had two hits and a triple.
• Bryce Molinaro went three-for-five and scored two runs, while Spencer Barnett had a two-run triple.
• Turcovski collected three hits and four RBI on the weekend, while Porter registered four hits, two doubles, and four RBI.
• Jayden Davis added five hits, including a double, and two RBI.

 

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 went 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 (2024-25), 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.
• 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), Jesse Jaconski (12) and Jack 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).

 

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/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.