UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team travels to Purdue for the final regular season series of the 2021 season. Penn State will meet Purdue twice and Minnesota twice in the pod weekend.
The Nittany Lions and Purdue will face off on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET on BTN. This will be the third time this season the Nittany Lions will be on BTN.
Series Information
Radio on LionVision with Brian Tripp
Stream on BTN+ ($) Friday & Saturday , BTN on Thursday
Probable Starters
Thursday Probables
PSU - RHP Bailey Dees
Purdue - LHP Calvin Schapira
Friday Probables
PSU - RHP Conor Larkin
Purdue - RHP Trent Johnson
PSU - RHP Jaden Henline
Minnesota - TBA
Saturday Probables
PSU- RHP Kyle Virbitsky
Minnesota - TBA
Last Time vs. Purdue/Minnesota
The Nittany Lions and Boilermakers met earlier this season on April 10-11. The two teams split the previous meeting this season with the Nittany Lions winning game one 11-0 and Purude taking game two 8-5.
Matt Wood went 3-5 with 3 RBI in the 11-0 win with a home run. Every Penn State starter had at least one hit in the win. Kyle Virbitsky went 8.1 IP, scattering five hits and striking out six.
The Nittany Lions and Minnesota last met March 23-24 in a three-game series. Minnesota won all three games in that series. Penn State was originally scheduled to play Minnesota the weekend of May 14-17 as a part of the Penn State pod weekend with Minnesota and Rutgers. The decision was mutually agreed upon by all three teams due to health and safety concerns within the Minnesota program to postpone those games.
Diamond Lions on the Bump
Bailey Dees will start on Thursday against the Purdue. In his previous start against Rutgers. Dees is 4-4 on the season with a 5.63 ERA. He has struck out 51 in his 64.0 innings of work.
Conor Larkin starts for Penn State in game two. Larkin enters the game with a 3-7 record. He is second on the team with 65 strikeouts. Larkin is closing in on 200 career strikeouts, he currently has 186 in his Penn State career.
Jaden Henline will make is fourth start of the season in the second game of the doubleheader. Henline is 0-1 on the season with eight appearances.
Kyle Virbitsky will start the series finale on Saturday. Against Illinois in his last start, Virbitsky tossed seven innings, striking out eight in the win.
Mason Mellott made his 67th appearance and moved into seventh place all-time in Penn State history on Sunday against Illinois. His 13 saves are in sole possession of fourth all-time.
Penn State Hitters
Penn State is currently fourth in the Big Ten with a .269 average as a team. The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten with 90 doubles and are 10th in the NCAA with 2.25 doubles per game.
Gavin Homer leads the team with a .307 average and is one of three Nittany Lions hitting over .300.
Penn State has five players with 10 doubles or more. Johnny Piacentino leads the team with 14 doubles. He also leads the team with seven homers and 30 RBI.
Curtis Robison's multi-homer game was the third of the season for Penn State (Josh Spiegel – 3/5 vs. Northwestern, Johnny Piacentino – 3/7 vs. Northwestern).
Justin Williams two-RBI double in sixth inning was Penn State's 90th double of the season.