UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team welcomes Pitt on Tuesday evening for a 5:30 p.m. first pitch at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Tuesday night is Dollar Dog Night, featuring $1 hot dogs. Every home game is free admission for all ages.
Free Dollar Dog Night t-shirts will be given to the first 350 students.
Penn State, led by head coach Mike Gambino, is 12-9 and looks to bounce back after dropping the final two games of its series against Michigan.
Pitt, coached by Mike Bell, is 11-10 this year. The Panthers fell in all three games at No. 14 Virginia last weekend.
For updates on the Penn State baseball team, please check @pennstatebase on X and Instagram.
The 2024 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
FOLLOW ALONG
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PROMOTIONS/BALLPARK ITEMS
- Every Tuesday home game is Dollar Dog Night, featuring $1 hot dogs.
- This Tuesday will feature a Dollar Dog Night t-shirt giveaway for the first 350 students.
- Hot dogs are sold at a maximum four per transaction.
- Members of the Penn State Women's Hockey team will throw out the first pitch to celebrate its CHA Championship.
- Tuesday is 800 Strong Night, encouraging support from Penn State student-athletes.
- All concessions items at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park this season are cashless transactions.
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:
- Porter North and Jordan East
- Free with valid Penn State parking permits
- $5.50 prepaid parking is available through ParkMobile - https://psu.parkmobile.io/medlar-field-lubrano-park. Prepayment is available through 11:59 p.m. the day prior to each event.
- $10 day-of-event (pay station or Park Mobile app – zone no. 95112
- Baseball Parking Interactive Map
- Please visit the 2024 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.
LEADING OFF
- Penn State hosts Pitt on Tuesday evening to close out an eight-game homestand.
- The Nittany Lions are 90-47-1 all-time against Pitt after splitting a pair of games last season.
- Penn State won 16-8 in Happy Valley last year, but fell 11-3 at PNC Park.
- The Nittany Lions look to bounce back after dropping the final two games of their series against Michigan.
- Penn State won Friday's game, 4-3, after four no-hit innings by Travis Luensmann.
- Following the outing, Luensmann is now 16th in the country allowing only 4.55 hits per nine innings.
- J.T. Marr collected four hits against Michigan to bring a .430 average into Tuesday's contest.
- Marr ranks second in the Big Ten in average, third in hits per game (1.76) and fourth in total hits (37).
- Penn State's balanced lineup features five players with at least 20 hits and nine players with at least 10 RBI this season.
SCOUTING PITT
- Head Coach Mike Bell is in his sixth season leading the Pitt baseball program.
- Pitt is 118-128 under Bell, including an 11-10 mark this season.
- The Panthers dropped three games at No. 14 Virginia last weekend.
- Pitt has a .308 team average and averages eight runs per game.
- Tyler Bischke leads the squad with a .349 average and 30 hits, while tying for a team-high 18 RBI.
- Jake Kendro is hitting .346 with three homers and 12 RBI, while Luke Cantwell is hitting .333 with four homers and 18 RBI.
- Jayden Melendez has launched six homers to go with 16 RBI.
- Pitt's pitching staff has a 6.42 ERA and allows a .286 opposing average.
- Phil Fox leads Pitt with a 1.12 ERA in eight appearances with a 2-1 and a save. He has 19 strikeouts and no walks in 16 innings.
- Ethan Firoved has 25 strikeouts in 21.1 innings over seven appearances.
AGAINST THE PANTHERS
- Penn State is 90-47-1 all-time against Pitt.
- The Nittany Lions split two games against the Panthers in 2023.
- On March 28, 2023, Penn State earned a 16-8 win at home, highlighted by a five-run sixth inning and a six-run eighth inning.
- On May 16, 2023, PSU fell 11-3 against Pitt at PNC Park. Bobby Marsh had two hits and an RBI.
THE MARR-CHINE KEEPS HITTING
- Grad student J.T. Marr is off to an incredible start to begin the 2024 campaign.
- Marr's season average sits at .430 with a team-best 37 hits.
- Marr ranks second in the Big Ten with his .430 average, while ranking 31st in the country.
- He also ranks 14th in the nation, and third in the Big Ten, averaging 1.76 hits per game.
- Marr holds 38th in the country, and fourth in the conference, with 37 total hits.
- This past weekend, Marr tallied four hits.
- He owns 10 multi-hit games and four multi-RBI games.
- On the year, Marr has two games with four hits and four games with three hits.
- Among his 37 knocks, he has three doubles and a homer to go with 19 RBI and 19 runs.
NEWCOMERS LEADING BALANCED LINEUP
- The Nittany Lions sit among the Top 5 in the Big Ten in batting average (.290; 5th), runs per game (7.5; 5th) and sac flies (17; 2nd).
- Penn State has five players with a .300 or better average, six with a .400+ on-base percentage and six with a .400+ slugging percentage.
- Five Nittany Lions have at least 20 hits and nine Nittany Lions have at least 10 RBI.
- Penn State joins Iowa and Rutgers as the only Big Ten teams with at least nine players owning at least 10 RBI.
- Graduate student J.T. Marr paces the squad with a .430 average and 37 hits. He owns three doubles, a homer, 19 RBI and 19 runs.
- After going 4-of-10 at the plate vs. Michigan, Bobby Marsh is hitting .328 with 22 hits, including four doubles, 13 RBI and 11 runs.
- Junior Matt Maloney is batting .310 with a team-high 24 RBI along with five doubles and a homer.
- Maloney ranks second in the Big Ten in RBI per game (1.41).
- Redshirt junior Billy Gerlott is hitting .308 with five doubles, a homer, three RBI and 14 runs.
- Graduate student Adam Cecere is hitting .300 with 21 hits, including five doubles and a team-high five homers, 15 RBI and 23 runs. He has a team-high 20 walks and seven hit-by-pitches.
- He hit two homers on March 15 against UMass Lowell, his sixth career multi-homer game.
- Cecere paces the team with a .586 slugging percentage and a .490 on-base percentage.
- He ranks ninth in Big Ten with a 1.076 OPS, 12th in slugging percentage (.586) and eighth in on-base percentage (.490). He's also tied-third in the conference in total walks (20) and tied-fourth in walks per game (0.95).
- Cecere is one of 23 current Division I players with 37+ homers and 131+ RBI in their career.
- Among active DI players, Cecere is 24th in homers (37).
- Joe Jaconski is tied with Cecere for third in the Big Ten in walks (20) and owns 20 hits and 17 runs, while Grant Norris has 19 hits, including five doubles and four homers, and 16 RBI.
- Bryce Molinaro owns two homers, among 23 hits, and 15 RBI, while Kyle Hannon has 15 hits, one homer and 17 runs.
MICHIGAN SERIES RECAP
- Penn State earned a 4-3 win on Friday but dropped the final two contests of the series against Michigan.
- On Friday, Travis Luensmann fired four no-hit innings, while striking out six.
- Will Perkowski threw 2.2 strong innings in relief, allowing no runs and recording five strikeouts.
- PSU walked it off in the ninth as a grounder by Grant Norris was misplayed.
- On Saturday, PSU overcame an early 3-1 deficit to take a 6-5 lead in the third, including a two-run double by Matt Maloney and RBI singles by Bobby Marsh and Bryce Molinaro, but the Wolverines scored four in the top of the seventh to re-take the lead.
- On Sunday, four Nittany Lions had multi-hit days. The game was tied 1-1 into the seventh, but Michigan rallied for nine runs in the seventh and one in the eighth. Penn State plated five runs in the eighth but couldn't complete the comeback.
HANNON, KELLEY, NORRIS CLIMB RECORDS LISTS
- Senior Kyle Hannon already has 10 steals in 2024, including four in the series vs. Harvard.
- With 10 steals this year, Hannon has moved up to fourth all-time at Penn State with 44 career steals. He is currently six steals behind Doug Keener (50, 1984-87) for third place.
- Hannon ranks fifth in the Big Ten in total steals (10) and fourth in steals per game (0.50).
- Senior+ Tayven Kelley owns 12 career triples, tied third all-time at Penn State. He is tied with Michael Campo (1997-00) and Jordan Steranka (2009-12).
- Graduate student Grant Norris' .516 career slugging percentage sits seventh all-time at Penn State.
LUENSMANN POSTS CONSECUTIVE SOLID STARTS
- Senior Travis Luensmann made his third-straight solid start against Michigan on Friday.
- He gave up no hits or runs in four innings of work, while striking out six. He struck out multiple batters in the first and third innings.
- The Altoona native picked up his second win of the season on March 14 against UMass Lowell.
- Luensmann fired six innings, giving up one run on two hits, while striking out five. He did not allow a run until a solo homer in the sixth.
- Luensmann has thrown six innings in back-to-back starts, including a six-inning, two-run outing against Harvard on March 8.
- He has 22 strikeouts in six starts and is allowing a .157 opponent average.
- He ranks second in the Big Ten and 16th in the country allowing 4.55 hits per nine innings.
- Frankie Sanchez made a start on Sunday against Michigan and has a 1.46 ERA over four appearances (three starts) with 14 strikeouts in 12.1 innings.
UP NEXT
- Penn State visits Illinois to continue Big Ten play.
- The series begins on Friday at 7 p.m. and continues Saturday at 4 p.m.
- Sunday's contest is being broadcast on Big Ten Network, beginning at 3 p.m.