Jake Palomaki joined the Penn State baseball coaching staff in July 2024. Palomaki arrived in Happy Valley after serving as a hitting coach in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, recently working with the FCL Phillies.
Over the last two seasons, seven Nittany Lions have hit 10+ home runs in a season: Bryce Molinaro (2025, 2026), Jesse Jaconski (2025), Paxton Kling (2025), Jack Porter (2025), Ryan Weingartner (2025), Michael Anderson (2026) and Spencer Barnett (2026).
Penn State set team records for doubles (111; 2025) and stolen bases (108; 2025). Anderson broke the PSU season home run record in 2026 (20) and Weingartner broke the steals record in 2025 (30).
In 2026, the Nittany Lions won 16 games, including nine in Big Ten play.
Penn State’s wins included five victories over RPI Top 100 teams: Purdue (54), Maryland (85), Ohio State (87), Iowa (67) and Minnesota (93).
Michael Anderson earned three All-American honors, being named a first-team All-American by ABCA, second-team All-American by NCBWA and an honorable mention All-American by the College Baseball Foundation. Anderson became PSU’s 14th All-American selection and its first since catcher Ben Heath in 2010. Anderson was the program’s fifth first-team All-American.
Anderson was also a first-team ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selection before being drafted in the fifth round (149th overall) in the 2026 MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers. Anderson was selected as a two-way player.
Michael Anderson was named first-team All-Big Ten. Joining Paxton Kling in 2025, Penn State has first-team All-Big Ten selections in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2011-12 (Sean Deegan in 2011, Jordan Steranka in 2012).
Anderson broke Penn State season records with 20 home runs and 18 hit-by-pitches, while ranking fourth in a season in slugging percentage (.742) and total bases (141).
He led the Nittany Lions in average (.358), hits (68), runs (43), RBI (53), total bases, hit-by-pitches, slugging percentage and on base percentage (.470).
Anderson paced the Big Ten in OPS (1.212; 18th nationally) and total bases (141; 41st), while sitting second in home runs (20; 17th) and slugging percentage (.742; 22nd), third in home runs per game (0.40; 17th), fifth in on base percentage (.470), sixth in hit-by-pitches (18), seventh in RBI per game (1.06) and ninth in batting average (.358) and RBI (53).
Anderson was one of two D1 players in 2026 averaging 414+ feet on 20+ home runs.
Bryce Molinaro ranked 10th in the Big Ten in home runs (15). Molinaro moved into second all-time at Penn State with 39 career home runs, fifth with 150 RBI, sixth with 337 total bases and seventh with a .539 slugging percentage. Molinaro is one of two Nittany Lions to hit 10+ home runs in three-straight seasons.
He was one of three D1 players in 2026 averaging 415+ feet on 15+ home runs.
Penn State’s 2026 recruiting class was ranked No. 25 by Baseball America and included two Top 100 recruits.
RHP Jerek Turlij was ranked as the No. 234 prospect in the 2026 MLB Draft by Baseball America, the No. 246 prospect by MLB Pipeline and the top prospect in PA in the 2026 class by Prep Baseball Report. RHP Hunter Brown was rated as the No. 237 prospect in the 2026 MLB Draft by MLB Pipeline and the No. 359 prospect by Baseball America. He was ranked as the top RHP in New Jersey in the 2026 class by Perfect Game and Prep Baseball Report.
Penn State’s 2026 class was ranked No. 43 in the country by Perfect Game and its 2025 class was ranked No. 41. It marked PSU’s first time with back-to-back Top 45 classes since 2016-17.
In 2025, Penn State finished the season with a 33-23 mark (15-15 Big Ten), posting its second-most wins in a season. PSU reached the 30-win tally for the first time since 2011.
Penn State made another strong run in the Big Ten Tournament, reaching the semifinals in back-to-back years for the first time since 2000-01. PSU knocked off No. 5 seed Washington and No. 4 seed USC to advance to the semifinals.
In Big Ten play, the Nittany Lions won five Big Ten series in a season for the first time since 2012 and won three Big Ten road series for the first time since 2012. Their 15 Big Ten wins were its most since 2012 (not counting a Big Ten-only schedule in 2021).
The Nittany Lions had a .500 or better record in Big Ten games in back-to-back seasons for the sixth time in program history. The Nittany Lions’ eight Big Ten road wins this season were its most since 2007 (9).
PSU’s 27 wins in Big Ten play over the last two seasons are its most in a two-year span since 2011-12.
Penn State went 11-3 in series/weekend openers in 2025.
The Nittany Lions opened the 2025 campaign with wins over Missouri and UConn at the Puerto Rico Challenge. Their win over Missouri was PSU’s first over an SEC team since 1995 vs. Alabama. Non-conference competition also included a home win over No. 17 West Virginia and two wins over Xavier. PSU set an attendance record (6,106) in the win over WVU.
The Nittany Lions claimed 12 wins over RPI Top 100 teams, including six at home and six in road/neutral matchups. The wins included UConn, Indiana (2), Michigan, USC (2), West Virginia, Rutgers (2), Xavier (2) and Washington.
Junior outfielder Paxton Kling was a first-team All-Big Ten selection, PSU’s first since catcher Matt Wood in 2022, and was named to the Big Ten All-Defensive team. Redshirt sophomore Jack Porter was tabbed second-team All-Big Ten, while Cole Wagner earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Kling and Porter were ABCA All-Region East second-team honorees, joining junior pitcher Ryan DeSanto. PSU had three All-Region selections in a season for the third time in program history (1973, 2024). Among Big Ten schools, only Indiana and Oregon had more selections.
DeSanto, Kling and junior shortstop Ryan Weingartner all earned invites to the MLB Draft Combine.
Kling ranked fourth in the Big Ten in runs (63; 66th nationally) and sac flies (6; 47th), seventh in runs per game (1.13; 93rd) and eighth in batting average (.358).
At PSU, Kling ranks tied for second in a season in sacrifice flies (7), tied for third in runs (63), sixth in total bases (134), tied for seventh in homers (13), tied for eighth in hits (76) and tied for ninth in walks (37) and RBI (54). He became the first Nittany Lion with 13+ homers and 15+ steals in a season.
Weingartner paced the Big Ten in steals (30; 38th nationally) and steals per game (0.54; 53rd), while ranking seventh in walks (44; 79th) and 10th in walks per game (0.79). He was one of eight D1 players with 11+ homers and 30+ steals this season.
He set a PSU season record with 30 steals, while ranking fourth in a season at PSU with 44 walks and tied for 10th with 52 runs.
As a team, Penn State set season records for steals (108), doubles (111) and games scoring 10+ runs (23). The Nittany Lions slugged 79 homers. PSU paced the Big Ten in steals (108) and steals per game (1.93), while recording 12 more steals than any other Big Ten team.
PSU had five players with 10+ homers in a season for the first time in program history, including Kling (13), Bryce Molinaro (13), Jesse Jaconski (11), Weingartner (11) and Porter (10). Molinaro was the first Nittany Lion with 10+ homers in back-to-back seasons since Sean Deegan in 2011-12.
PSU also had four players with 10+ steals for the first time since 1994, including Weingartner (30), Kling (15), Joe Jaconski (11) and Wagner (11).
PSU was one of two Division I teams with seven or more players with 6+ homers and 6+ steals.
The Kennesaw, Georgia native played at Boston College, under Gambino, from 2015-18.
After being selected in the 18th round of the 2018 MLB Draft, Palomaki played in the Tampa Bay Rays organization from 2018-21. He played in AAA with the Salt Lake Bees in the Los Angeles Angels organization in 2022.
In his minor league career, Palomaki collected 266 hits, 99 RBI and 169 runs.
Palomaki served as player development coordinator for Pinnacle Performance.
While at Boston College, Palomaki played in 196 games, making 192 starts. He tallied 202 hits, 91 RBI and 153 runs. Palomaki is Boston College’s all-time leader in career walks (153) and season walks (46; 2015), while holding second in career runs (153) and career steals (60), fourth in season steals (19, 2016) and seventh in career on-base percentage (.426).
He was named NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team in 2016 and served as a team captain in 2018.