Nittany Lions Travel To Maryland For Big Ten Road SeriesNittany Lions Travel To Maryland For Big Ten Road Series
Craig Houtz

Matt Wood

Nittany Lions Travel To Maryland For Big Ten Road Series

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team travels to College Park to take on Maryland for a three-game Big Ten series. The Terrapins are ranked 25th in the Baseball America Poll. The teams are set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch on Friday, a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1 p.m. start on Sunday. All games will be livestreamed on B1G+.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by head coach Rob Cooper, are coming off a 3-2 win in 10 innings over St. Bonaventure. Jay Harry collected two RBI, including a walk-off single. The Nittany Lion pitching staff combined for 13 strikeouts as freshman Chase Renner picked up his first career win.
 
The 2022 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
PROBABLE STARTERS* 
Friday (6:30 p.m.)  – PSU: Jaden Henline (0-1, 2.75 ERA) vs. UMD: Nick Dean (2-1, 3.58 ERA)
 
Saturday (2 p.m.)  – PSU: TBA vs. UMD: Ryan Ramsey (6-0, 2.11 ERA)
 
Sunday (1 p.m.)  – PSU: TBA vs. UMD: Jason Savacool (4-2, 2.72 ERA)
 
*subject to change
 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State travels to Maryland to continue Big Ten play.
  • The Terrapins are ranked 25th in the Baseball America poll.
  • The Nittany Lions trail the all-time series, 19-17, and play Maryland at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium for the first time since 2017.
  • Penn State earned a 3-2 win in 10 innings over St. Bonaventure on Wednesday night.
  • The Nittany Lions pitching staff had another strong performance with 13 strikeouts.
  • Five Nittany Lions had multiple strikeouts (Kohls, Renner 3; Molsky, Morales, Partridge 2).
  • Freshman played a big role in the pitching success as Tommy Molsky, Seneca Gregory and Chase Renner (2 innings) each threw shutout frames. Renner earned his first career win.
  • Jay Harry drove in two runs, including a walk-off RBI single and an RBI double.
  • Over the last 10 games, Harry is batting .306 with two doubles and two homers.
  • Matt Wood is hitting .414 over the last 10 games with four extra-base hits and eight RBI.
  • Jaden Henline is set to make his first start of the season against Maryland.
  • Henline has a 2.75 ERA in eight appearances with 25 strikeouts and only four walks.
  • Jordan Morales and Tyler Shingledecker lead PSU with 10 appearances on the mound.

 
SCOUTING MARYLAND

  • Fifth-year head coach Rob Vaughn is 96-82 in his time leading the Terrapins.
  • Vaughn led Maryland to a 30-18 record and an NCAA Regional appearance in 2021.
  • The Terrapins are 20-5 this season and ranked 25th in the Baseball America Poll.
  • Maryland is batting .294 as a team and averaging 8.4 runs per game.
  • The Terrapins lead the Big Ten with 41 homers. Eight Terrapins have at least two homers this season, led by Maxwell Costes' 10.
  • Maryland has a team ERA of 3.83 and an opponent batting average of .228.
  • Ryan Ramsey is 6-0 with a 2.11 ERA and 40 strikeouts in six starts.
  • Jason Savacool owns a 4-2 mark with a 2.72 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 43 innings over six starts.

 
AGAINST THE TERRAPINS

  • The Nittany Lions trails 19-17 in the all-time series vs. Maryland.
  • Penn State will play at Maryland for the first time since April 14-16, 2017.
  • Last season, Penn State took one of the three games in the series, a 6-5 win.
  • In the win, Josh Spiegel tallied three hits and two RBI. Tayven Kelley also drove in two runs.
  • Conor Larkin threw 6.2 innings, giving up two earned runs and striking out eight.

 
WOOD OFF TO STRONG START

  • Through 21 games played, junior Matt Wood is batting .375 with five doubles, two triples, four homers, 19 RBI and 19 runs.
  • Wood leads the Nittany Lions in batting average, hits, runs, triples, homers, RBI, walks (13), slugging percentage (.667) and on-base percentage (.467).
  • The lefty batter has been impressive facing righty (.395) and lefty (.345) pitchers.
  • Wood paces PSU with nine multi-hit games and five multi-RBI games this season.
  • He has three games with three hits, a game with three RBI and a game with four RBI.
  • Wood is batting .429 with runners in scoring position.
  • The Gibsonia, Pa. native is batting .414 over the last 10 games with a double, two triples, a homer and 8 RBI.
  • He batted .600 in the Rutgers series (3/25-26) with six hits, including a double and a triple, and five RBI.
  • Earlier this season, on opening weekend, Wood went 3-for-4 with four RBI and four runs while crushing two homers and a double in game one against LIU.
  • In D1baseball's preseason rankings, Wood was tabbed as the top catcher in the Big Ten and the 16th-best catcher in the country.

 
HARRY, SPIEGEL FINDING SUCCESS AT THE PLATE

  • Sophomore Jay Harry and junior Josh Spiegel have been hot at the plate over Penn State's last 10 games, batting .306 and .344, respectively.
  • Harry has two doubles and two homers, with both dingers coming against Rutgers (3/25), while Spiegel has a double, a triple and a homer.
  • Harry has seven RBI and six runs over the last 10 games, while Spiegel has four RBI.

 
PENNSYLVANIA INFLUENCE IN STARTING ROTATION

  • In all 23 games this season, Penn State's starting pitcher has been a Pennsylvania native.
  • Sophomore Travis Luensmann (Altoona) has made six starts with 34 strikeouts in 27.2 innings. Luensmann struck out eight in six innings against Maine (2/25).
  • He was ranked as the No. 2 pitcher in Pennsylvania in the 2020 class by Perfect Game.
  • Freshman Tommy Molsky has also made six starts, and seven appearances, tallying 27 strikeouts in 25 innings. Molsky tied a career high with six strikeouts against UMass (3/12).
  • Graduate student Mason Mellott has made four starts and eight appearances.
  • Mellott, graduating in August 2021 with a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology, ranks fourth all-time at Penn State with 13 saves and fifth with 75 appearances. Mellott is on the NCWBA Stopper of the Year Watch List.
  • Junior Kellan Tulio has made five starts and six appearances.
  • Tulio pitched the last two seasons at Louisville before transferring to Penn State. Tulio was ranked as the top pitcher in Pennsylvania in the 2019 class.
  • Penn State is challenged with replacing a 2021 rotation that featured three MLB draft selections in Conor Larkin (9th round, Toronto Blue Jays), Kyle Virbitsky (17th round, Oakland A's) and Bailey Dees (18th round, New York Yankees).
  • The Nittany Lions were one of only four Division I schools to have all three members of their starting rotation selected. Penn State has eight pitchers who have been drafted since 2016.

 
HENLINE, SHINGLEDECKER LEAD BULLPEN

  • Senior Tyler Shingledecker leads the team with 10 appearances and three wins. The lefty has held opponents without an earned run in eight of his 10 outings.
  • The versatile Shingledecker has gone more than an inning in six appearances and has a 4.11 ERA and 18 strikeouts.
  • Sophomore Jaden Henline has struck out 25 batters in 19.2 relief innings, while sitting third in the Big Ten with three saves. In eight appearances, Henline has thrown two or more innings in six outings, including four innings with no earned runs allowed against Rutgers (3/25).
  • Henline has made five straight appearances with no earned runs allowed (10 innings).
  • Senior Steven Miller and junior Jordan Morales have also established themselves as key members of the bullpen. Miller has a 3.38 ERA and a save in seven appearances.
  • Miller struck out six in a career-high 3.2 innings against Milwaukee (3/19).
  • Morales is 2-0 with 19 strikeouts in 13.1 innings over 10 appearances.

 
BARTELS, GERLOTT BRING CONSISTENT APPROACH TO LEAD OUTFIELD

  • Graduate student Cole Bartels and sophomore Billy Gerlott have been consistent presences in Penn State's lineup this season.
  • Gerlott is batting .269 with 21 hits, including six doubles and a triple, and eight RBI.
  • The sophomore had a double and a triple in the Rutgers series.
  • Gerlott is hitting .318 with runners in scoring position.
  • Bartels is batting .264 with 23 hits, including three doubles. He also has two steals.
  • Bartels is hitting .375 with runners in scoring position.
  • Bartels was 5-of-12 at the plate against Virginia for a .417 average.
  • Outfielder Johnny Piacentino is batting .289 in 11 games this season with a double, a triple and eight RBI.
  • He's batting .412 with runners in scoring position.
  • Over the last five games, Piacentino is 6-for-17 at the plate (.353).
  • Piacentino had a triple and drove in four runs vs. Rutgers.
  • The junior put up impressive power numbers in 2021 with a team-high 15 doubles and eight homers. He drove in 32 RBI and scored 30 runs, both team bests.
  • Piacentino was ranked among D1baseball's Top 150 outfielders in their preseason rankings.

 
UP NEXT

  • Penn State hosts Bucknell on Wednesday, April 6 for a mid-week contest, beginning at 6 p.m.
  • The Nittany Lions travel to Northwestern for a three-game series next weekend, April 8-10.