Feb. 18, 2009
St. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Penn State baseball team will open its 2009 season this weekend as it travels to Tampa Bay for the inaugural Big Ten/Big East Challenge. The Nittany Lions, which has made consecutive top-three finishes in the Big Ten for the first time in program history, will play two Big East schools and Big Ten-foe Northwestern in three days.
Penn State begins play Friday against reigning Big East champion St. John's at Dunedin Stadium in Dunedin, Fla. - home of the Toronto Blue Jays' spring-training facility - at 4 p.m. The following day, the Nittany Lions take on Northwestern in St. Petersburg's Naimoli Complex, the former pre-season home of the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays, in a rare nonconference showdown between Big Ten opponents at 1 p.m. Robbie Wine's squad caps off the challenge by taking on Seton Hall at 10 a.m. Sunday at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Fla. - the previous off-season facilities of the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies.
All games will be shown on GameTracker at GoPSUsports.com. Fans can get track Nittany Lion action more in-depth by following psubaseball on Twitter.
Leading Off
The Penn State baseball team returns to the diamond for the first time since the Big Ten Tournament, in which it went 1-2. After defeating Indiana, 6-1, on a complete game by Mike Wanamaker, the Nittany Lions fell to Purdue, 16-5. Penn State rallied from a 7-4 deficit to score four runs in the top of the ninth only to squander its short-lived lead in the bottom frame when Indiana's Josh Phegley ended the Nittany Lions' season with a walk-off grand slam. Wes Borden bumped his batting average by over 15 points during the three-game span as he hit 7-for-15.
Series History vs. St. John's
Penn State and St. John's meet for the first time since the Red Storm swept a double-header on April 14, 1984. In an all-time series that began in 1949 as part of the District II Playoffs, the Red Storm leads 13-8 and has taken four of the past six meetings.
Scouting the Red Storm
St. John's, generally one of the top performers in college baseball above the Mason-Dixon Line, may not look like the team which has dominated the Big East over the past few years. Despite this, the Red Storm should be a contender in 2009. St. John's amassed a 42-16 record and won the Big East last season to pave its way to the Houston Regional, where it scored a huge win over Texas, which Penn State faces next week.
The Johnnies return outstanding hitters like Brian Kemp, Carlos Del Rosario and Danny Benedetti - all of whom batted over .340 - but lost possibly the nation's best crop of pitching to the 2008 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. Five players, all pitchers, were picked up last season by the big leagues. John Anninos, one of St. John's top sources of power in 2008, is not returning for this season. \ Penn State will face off against one of the Red Storm's four returning pitchers, Nick Cenatiempo. The junior right hander had a 3.44 earned-run average as a reliever last season and calculated 39 strikeouts in 36.2 innings. Opposing hitters batted .233 against the Manchester, N.H. native.
Series History vs. Northwestern
After taking a hiatus last season, Penn State faces Northwestern in an unusual nonconference matchup amongst Big Ten teams, since several Big East schools could not make the challenge due to prior arrangements. Penn State last faced the Wildcats in 2007 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, where the Nittany Lions swept Northwestern in four games. Three of those four games were decided by two or fewer runs. The series between the Nittany Lions and Wildcats, which only dates back to Penn State's entrance into the Big Ten, stands tied at 32 apiece.
Scouting the Wildcats
Northwestern will be sending southpaw David Jensen to the mound on Saturday. Jensen went 1-6 against competition last season with a 9.41 earned-run average.
The Wildcats return a plethora of experience from last season and hopes to improve upon its conference-worst 6.94 ERA. On the other side of the lineup, Northwestern returns first baseman Jake Goebbert (.353-10 homeruns-48 RBIs) and third baseman Chris Lashmet (.299-four homeruns-38 RBIs).
Series History vs. Seton Hall
The Nittany Lions trail Seton Hall, 4-5-1, in a series that dates back to a 7-7 tie that occurred 100 years ago. It last played in 1986 in New Jersey. The Pirates swept the two-games series by scores of 7-6 and 13-3.
Scouting the Pirates
Seton Hall recorded a 31-25 standing in 2008, its best performance since the 2001 season. The Pirates benefited from an outstanding pitching staff that had an ERA of 3.86. Seton's top-two hitters both went drafted last season, so it will depend on catcher Chris Affinto (.308-10 homeruns-40 RBIs) and shortstop A.J. Rusbarsky (.300) to lead the charge. Keith Cantwell and Matt Singer combined for seven saves in 2008.
Seton will most likely showcase Joe Dirocco on the mount in Clearwater. Dirocco went 3-3 last season in four starts, earning a 6.11 ERA. Opposing batters hit .272 off him last year. He had 32 strikeouts in 35.2 innings.