Baseball Welcomes West Virginia On TuesdayBaseball Welcomes West Virginia On Tuesday
Steven Walter

Kyle Hannon

Baseball Welcomes West Virginia On Tuesday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team hosts West Virginia on Tuesday to complete a nine-game homestand at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. with a broadcast on B1G+.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by head coach Rob Cooper, are 17-11 overall after a three-game sweep over Delaware State last weekend. Penn State outscored Delaware State, 31-7, in the series.
 
West Virginia is 23-9 overall after taking one of three games in a series against Kansas. The Mountaineers entered the Kansas series ranked 24th in the D1Baseball rankings.
 
Season and single game tickets for the 2023 Penn State baseball season are available here. Season tickets are $75 for adults and free for youth (ages 12 and under).
 
The 2023 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
 
PARKING
Parking for Penn State Baseball games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park will be available at the following locations beginning two hours prior to the start of each game:


Please visit the 2023 Baseball Parking page for additional information.
 
Non-football event parking is managed by Penn State Transportation Services. For more information on parking for this event, please email parking@psu.edu or call 814-865-1436. 
 
PROMOTIONS

  • Military Appreciation Night – Free admission for anyone with an active military ID
  • Dollar Dog Night Round 4 – $1 hot dogs (limit of four hot dogs per purchase).

 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State welcomes West Virginia for a non-conference matchup on Tuesday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
  • The Nittany Lions and the Mountaineers are set to play the 116th matchup in the series.
  • Last season, the teams split two games with the Nittany Lions earning an 8-4 win in Morgantown.
  • Penn State is coming off a three-game sweep over Delaware State, outscoring the Hornets, 31-7.
  • On Sunday, Tayven Kelley had two triples and a double to go with three runs and three RBI.
  • Grant Norris extended his hit streak to eight games while recording a double, triple and homer in the series.
  • Kyle Hannon is riding a 12-game hit streak and has reached 20 steals on the season, tied for sixth in a season at PSU and the most by a PSU player since Greg Guers (20) in 2016.

 
SCOUTING WEST VIRGINA

  • Randy Mazey is in his 11th season as head coach at West Virginia.
  • He owns 505 career wins and 319 wins at WVU, while leading the Mountaineers to two NCAA Regional appearances.
  • WVU is batting .300 as a team and averaging 8.0 runs per game. WVU ranks eighth in the country in doubles (78) and ninth in steals (78).
  • JJ Wetherholt is having a monster season, recently being named Midseason First Team All-America by D1Baseball. He is batting .448 with 60 hits (15 doubles, 7 homers), 42 runs and 33 RBI as well as 26 steals.
  • Wetherholt leads the country in hits (60), while ranking second in hits per game (1.88), eighth in batting average (.448), sixth in doubles (15), third in steals (26) and 15th in runs (42).
  • The WVU pitching staff owns a 4.19 team ERA and is allowing a .240 opponent batting average.
  • Carlson Reed leads the staff with 13 appearances.

 
AGAINST THE MOUNTAINEERS

  • Penn State and West Virginia are set to play the 116th matchup in the series.
  • The teams split two games last season with the Nittany Lions winning 8-4 in Morgantown.
  • Josh Spiegel went 2-for-3 with a homer, two RBI and three runs. Mason Mellott, Ryan Partridge, Steven Miller, Kellan Tulio and Jordan Morales combined to allow just one run over the final 6.1 innings.
  • West Virginia is one of five opponents Penn State has played more than 100 times, joining Bucknell (132-31-1), Michigan (49-54), Ohio State (40-73), and Pitt (90-46-1) and West Virginia (72-43).

 
HANNON EMERGES AS POWER, SPEED THREAT

  • Kyle Hannon leads the team in homers (six), runs (33) and steals (20). He's also riding a 12-game hit streak.
  • He is on pace to become Penn State's first player with 10+ homers and 10+ steals in a season since Sean Deegan (12 HR, 15 SB). His 20 steals are already tied for sixth in a season at PSU and are the most by a PSU player since Greg Guers (20) in 2016. Hannon needs just seven steals for the season record.
  • Hannon leads the Big Ten in steals per game (0.71), good for 15th in the nation, and total steals (20), sitting 16th in the country.
  • Hannon is one of three Division I players with 6+ homers and 20+ steals this season, joining West Virginia's JJ Wetherholt (7 HR, 26 SB) and VMI's Justin Starke (8 HR, 24 SB).
  • Hannon has five games this season with multiple steals.

 
LUENSMANN, OUDERKIRK LEAD STAFF

  • Grad student Daniel Ouderkirk, a West Virginia transfer, has made an immediate impact in the Penn State rotation.
  • Ouderkirk has tallied 49 strikeouts in 33.1 innings and has multiple strikeouts in 15 different innings this season. In eight starts, he has limited opponents to a .220 average.
  • The 6-9 righty ranks 22nd in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (13.23), sitting second in the Big Ten. He's seventh in the conference in total strikeouts (49).
  • Ouderkirk recorded at least 10 strikeouts in three straight starts: 11 vs. Northern Illinois, 11 vs. Dartmouth and 10 vs. Brown. He has allowed just one earned run in each start against NIU, Dartmouth and Georgetown.
  • Ouderkirk became the first Nittany Lion with three straight starts of 10+ strikeouts since at least 2004.
  • He is one of 16 Division I pitchers with multiple starts of 11+ strikeouts and 1 or less earned run this season and one of nine DI pitchers with three-straight 10+ strikeout starts this year.
  • Junior Travis Luensmann was named Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Week after striking out 10 in four relief shutout innings against Indiana. His 10 strikeouts were a career high.
  • In eight appearances (five starts), Luensmann is 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 36.2 innings.
  • He allowed just one run in five innings at No. 22 Miami, one run in five innings against Northern Illinois and no runs in five innings against Georgetown and no runs in 4.1 innings against Delaware State.

 
TRANSFERS PROVIDE SPARK

  • The Nittany Lions welcomed four transfers to the program ahead of the 2023 season and all four have had strong starts to the year.
  • Joining Ouderkirk are grad students Thomas Bramley (Mount St. Mary's) and Grant Norris (Duke) and freshman Bobby Marsh (Florida Atlantic).
  • Fellow grad student Thomas Bramley has started all 28 games, splitting time between catcher, outfield and designated hitter. Bramley is batting .327 with 33 hits, including six doubles, a triple and three homers, and has drawn a team-high 28 walks.  He has reached base in 32-straight games, dating back to 2022.
  • Norris has started 19 games at third base after transferring from Duke.
  • Norris is batting .318 with three homers and is tied for the team lead with 25 RBI.
  • He had a double, triple and homer in the Delaware State series.
  • Freshman Bobby Marsh, a Bellefonte native and transfer from Florida Atlantic, has played in 22 games (16 starts). He owns six doubles, two homers and 10 RBI.
  • Marsh launched his first career homer against Holy Cross and added a solo homer against Brown.

 
BALANCED BATS

  • The Nittany Lions currently rank 37th in the country with a .303 team average, 31st in triples (10) and 45th in steals per game (1.71).
  • Thomas Bramley is batting a team-best .327 with 33 hits and 28 walks, while Jay Harry leads the team with 37 hits and 25 RBI to go with 26 runs and a .314 average. He shares the RBI lead with Grant Norris (25), who is batting .318 with 10 extra-base hits.
  • Billy Gerlott (.304), Johnny Piacentino (.305), Bobby Marsh (.306) and Josh Spiegel (.318) are also hitting above .300 with Piacentino contributing 22 runs and 13 RBI, while Gerlott has 16 RBI and Spiegel has 14 RBI. Marsh has eight extra-base hits and 10 RBI.
  • Tayven Kelley leads the team with three triples this season. Kelley has nine career triples, tied for eighth all-time at Penn State.
  • Against Binghamton, Anthony Steele went two-for-four with a homer, four RBI and a stolen base before taking the mound and striking out two. He also had three strikeouts and an RBI single against Delaware State.

 
OPENING WIN OVER MIAMI

  • Penn State opened the 2023 season with a 9-5 win over Miami on February 17.
  • The Hurricanes were ranked 22nd in the D1Baseball Poll and No. 8 in the Baseball America rankings.
  • The Nittany Lions earned the program's first win over Miami and collected the program's first win over a ranked non-conference opponent since an 8-7 win over No. 21 Duke in 2019.
  • Travis Luensmann threw five innings in the win, allowing just one run on two hits and striking out four.
  • Penn State tallied 16 hits, including six Nittany Lions with multiple hits.
  • Billy Gerlott and Johnny Piacentino each had three hits, while Kyle Hannon and Tayven Kelley launched solo homers.

 
NITTANY LIONS RETURN EXPERIENCED PITCHING STAFF

  • The Nittany Lions welcome back an experienced pitching staff.
  • Penn State pitchers had a strong start to the 2023 season at No. 22 Miami.
  • The Nittany Lions' starting pitchers, Travis Luensmann, Daniel Ouderkirk and Tommy Molsky, combined to throw 13.1 innings, allowing eight hits and four earned runs, while striking out 13 batters.
  • The three starters recorded a 2.70 ERA and held Miami hitters to a .170 batting average.
  • Penn State set a program record with 503 strikeouts in 2022 as six members of the staff recorded at least 40 strikeouts.
  • The Nittany Lions return 406 of their 503 strikeouts (81 percent) from last year.
  • Penn State is one of nine Power Five programs, and the only Big Ten school, returning 400+ strikeouts from last season.
  • Among Power Five schools returning 400+ strikeouts, only Wake Forest (92%) returns a higher percentage of strikeouts returning.
  • In 49 of 55 games last season, Penn State's starting pitcher was a Pennsylvania native.
  • Penn State's pitching staff takes a versatile approach with eight different pitchers recording both a start and a save in 2022.
  • Since 2016, eight Penn State pitchers have been selected in the MLB Draft, including Conor Larkin (9th round, Toronto Blue Jays), Kyle Virbitsky (17th round, Oakland A's) and Bailey Dees (18th round, New York Yankees) in 2021.

 
UP NEXT

  • Penn State travels to Purdue to resume Big Ten action, beginning on Friday, April 14 at 6 p.m. Saturday's contest is set for 2 p.m. and Sunday's series finale is set for 1 p.m. All games will be broadcast on B1G+.
  • The Nittany Lions return to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on Tuesday, April 18 to host Youngstown State at 6 p.m. Every Tuesday home game is Dollar Dog Night.