Baseball Meets Illinois For Home Series

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team welcomes Illinois for a three-game Big Ten series this weekend, March 27-29, at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. First pitch on Friday is set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday’s contest is set for 2 p.m. and Sunday’s series finale is scheduled for 11 a.m. All games will be streamed on B1G+.

 

All games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park this season are free admission for all ages.

 

Saturday’s game includes a White Out, presented by MI Windows and Doors, encouraging fans to wear white. Saturday also includes postgame autographs, while Sunday includes postgame kids run the bases (12 & under).

 

Penn State, led by head coach Mike Gambino, is 7-16 this season (2-4 Big Ten) after splitting a pair of midweek games.

 

Illinois, coached by Dan Hartleb, is 12-11 overall and 4-5 in Big Ten play. Illinois fell 5-1 against Missouri on Tuesday.

 

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 welcomes Illinois for a three-game Big Ten series at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
• Penn State trails 44-32 in the all-time series against the Illini, but won the last meeting, 8-4, in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament.
• The Nittany Lions split a pair of midweek games, earning an 8-6 win over St. Bonaventure but falling to Bucknell.
• Bryce Molinaro launched a go-ahead, two-run homer against SBU.
• Molinaro’s homer was the 30th of his career, tying Michael Campo (1997-00) and Chris Wright (1999-02) for fifth all-time at PSU and becoming the first Nittany Lion with 30+ homers since Jordan Steranka (32; 2009-12).
• Molinaro sits seventh all-time at PSU with a .530 slugging percentage and eighth with 123 RBI.
• Penn State took the last of three games at Purdue last weekend, a 14-9 victory on Sunday. PSU plated 11 runs in the second inning, including 10 before an out was recorded.
• Michael Anderson owns 10 home runs this season with 27 RBI, a .316 average and a .709 slugging percentage.
• Anderson is tied-second in the Big Ten with 10 homers this year.

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 24-11 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.

 

PURDUE RECAP

• Penn State went 1-2 at Purdue last weekend.
• The Nittany Lions dropped Friday (12-7) and Saturday (2-1) games, but bounced back for a 14-9 win on Sunday.
• Cohl Mercado and Jack Porter both batted .417 in the series. Mercado had two doubles, a homer, four RBI and four runs, while Porter had three doubles and two RBI.
• Spencer Barnett added five hits, two doubles, and two RBI. Bryce Molinaro contributed five hits, a triple and a homer, while Michael Anderson hit two homers.
• On Friday, four Nittany Lion errors led to six unearned runs.
• Mercado led PSU with three hits, including a three-run double and a solo homer, and four RBI.
• On Saturday, Ben Hudson allowed just one run over five innings in his start.
• On Sunday, the Nittany Lions plated 11 runs in the second, including 10 runs before an out was recorded. It was PSU’s first 10-run inning since April 23, 2023 at Ohio State (10 runs; 4th inning) and most runs in an inning since May 9, 2022 at Pitt (14 runs; 9th).
• Molinaro had a triple and a two-run homer, while Anderson added a three-run blast.

 

ANDERSON OFF TO HOT START

• After transferring from Rhode Island (2023-24) and Arkansas (2025), senior Michael Anderson is off to a strong start for the Nittany Lions in 2026.
• The Pennsylvania native owns a .316 average this season, going 25-of-79 at the plate. He also owns a .709 slugging percentage and a .476 on-base percentage.
• Anderson leads Penn State in home runs (10), RBI (27) and runs (18), while adding 25 hits, 13 walks and 11 hit-by-pitches.
• He hit two homers against Indiana State.
• In his debut at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Anderson launched two homers (437 and 399 feet) among three hits and drove in seven runs. The seven RBI were one shy of the PSU game record.
• He followed with four hits, including a two-run homer, and six RBI at Texas Tech. He drove in two runs in all three games.
• Anderson collected five hits, including a homer, and four RBI against Iowa.
• He crushed two homers and drove in four runs at Purdue.
• Among Big Ten hitters, Anderson ranks first in hit-by-pitches (11), second in home runs per game (0.45) and total homers (10), fourth in slugging percentage (.709), seventh in RBI per game (1.23) and ninth in total RBI (27).

 

NITTANY LIONS DISPLAY POWER, SPEED

• 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 (2024-25). PSU was one of 14 D1 teams with 81+ homers and 108+ steals last season.
• In 2026, Penn State owns 29 homers and 17 steals.
• Michael Anderson paces the team with 10 homers, Bryce Molinaro has six, while Spencer Barnett has four. Jayden Davis, Jesse Jaconski, Cohl Mercado and Avery Smith have two.
• In his PSU career, Molinaro ranks fifth at PSU with 30 homers, seventh with a .530 slugging percentage and eighth with 123 RBI.

 

BAHAMAS SERIES RECAP

• Penn State met Indiana State in the first NCAA Division I baseball games in The Bahamas.
• The Atlantis Collegiate Baseball Series, run by bdG Sports, was played at Andre Rodgers National Baseball Stadium.
• Penn State fell in tight battles on Friday, 8-5, and Saturday, 2-1, but bounced back to win 9-8 in 11 innings on Sunday.
• In Sunday’s win, Michael Anderson, Jayden Davis and Bryce Molinaro all launched homers.
• After a Preston Yaucher single tied the game in the ninth, Jesse Jaconski scored the winning run in the 11th on a fielder’s choice by Cohl Mercado.

 

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).

 

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 hosts UCF on Wednesday, April 1 for a 5:30 p.m. first pitch.
• It will be Dollar Dog Night and Little Sluggers Day.
• The Nittany Lions travel to Lincoln for a three-game Big Ten series at Nebraska next weekend, April 3-5.
• All games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park are free admission for all ages.