Baseball Hosts FDU On TuesdayBaseball Hosts FDU On Tuesday
Mark Selders

Connor Throneberry

Baseball Hosts FDU On Tuesday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team is set to welcome FDU on Tuesday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on BTN plus and is free admission for all ages. Tuesday is Dollar Dog Night and Country Night.
 
Penn State, led by head coach Mike Gambino, is 16-12 after a three-game sweep over Northwestern this past weekend. The Nittany Lions posted 42 hits and 35 runs in the series.
 
FDU, coached by Manny Roman, is 12-16 overall. The Knights won one of three games against Delaware State 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

 
PROMOTIONS/BALLPARK ITEMS

  • Tuesday is Dollar Dog Night and Country Night.
    • Dollar Dog Night features $1 hot dogs.
    • Hot dogs are a maximum of four per transaction.
    • Country Night is highlighted by country music.
  • 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:

 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State hosts FDU on Tuesday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
  • The Nittany Lions and the Knights are meeting for the second time in series history.
  • Penn State is coming off a weekend sweep against Northwestern.
  • The Nittany Lions batted .408 with 42 hits, 35 runs and seven homers in the series against the Wildcats.
  • On the mound, PSU starting pitchers combined for 18 innings and earned the win in each game.
  • Grant Norris launched three homers, including two on Saturday, in the series, while Bobby Marsh went 8-of-12 at the plate and Bryce Molinaro was 7-of-11 with three extra-base hits.
  • In Big Ten play, Marsh is hitting .486 with 14 RBI, while Molinaro is batting .469.
  • Adam Cecere hit his 40th career homer in Friday's game.
  • J.T. Marr brings a Big Ten-best .414 average into Tuesday's contest.
  • As a team, Penn State paces the Big Ten in slugging percentage (.487) and is one of two Big Ten teams with seven players owning 21+ RBI.

 
SCOUTING FDU

  • FDU is led by Manny Roman, in his second season as head coach.
  • The Knights have won 43 games under Roman.
  • Fairleigh Dickinson is 12-16 this season, including 9-5 in the NEC.
  • Last weekend, FDU won one of three games against Delaware State.
  • On the season, FDU is batting .262 as a team and averaging 6.5 runs per game.
  • Hunter D'Amato is batting .311 and is tied for the team lead with 33 hits, including three homers, and 28 RBI. He also has 24 runs and 15 steals.
  • Justin Sierra also has a team-high 33 hits to go with 14 RBI and 18 steals.
  • Nick Quagliato is hitting .435 with 20 hits, including nine for extra bases, and 12 RBI.
  • On the mound, FDU has a 6.19 team ERA and a .273 opponent batting average.
  • Vladimir Ceverino is tied for the team-high with nine appearances along with a 3.38 ERA and two saves.
     

AGAINST THE KNIGHTS

  • Penn State is 1-0 all-time against Fairleigh Dickinson.
  • The last meeting was in 2020, an 8-4 Penn State win in Annapolis, Md.
  • In 2020, Gavin Homer tallied two hits, including a double, and two RBI.
  • Conor Larkin tossed 6.2 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and striking out 10.

 
DOLLAR DOG NIGHT RETURNS

  • Penn State's Dollar Dog Nights became popular in 2023 and have returned with strong numbers in 2024.
  • Tuesday's contest against FDU will be the Nittany Lions' third Dollar Dog Night of the 2024 campaign.
  • The first Dollar Dog Night of the year, on March 19 against St. Bonaventure, featured 880 fans consuming 2,010 hot dogs.
  • On March 26 against Pitt, the Nittany Lions welcomed 3,505 fans to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Penn State baseball's third-largest attendance and largest midweek attendance.
  • The 3,505 fans downed 5,021 hot dogs.
  • The Dollar Dog Night record stands at 5,287 consumed against West Virginia (4/11/23).
  • Across seven Dollar Dog Nights in 2023 and 2024, Penn State fans have consumed 20,435 hot dogs, averaging 2,919 per Dollar Dog Night.

 
THE MARR-CHINE KEEPS HITTING

  • Grad student J.T. Marr's season average sits at .414 with a team-best 48 hits and 30 RBI.
  • Marr leads the Big Ten with his .414 average, while ranking 26th in the country.
  • He also ranks 15th in the nation, and second in the Big Ten, averaging 1.71 hits per game.
  • Marr holds 34th in the country, and fourth in the conference, with 48 total hits.
  • He owns 15 multi-hit games, including five against Big Ten opponents, and nine multi-RBI games. Marr has two games with four hits and four games with three hits.
  • Among his 48 knocks, he has seven doubles and four homers to go with 25 runs and a 1.031 OPS, good for 12th in the Big Ten. He has three homers and 11 RBI in conference play.

 
NEWCOMERS LEADING BALANCED LINEUP

  • The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten in slugging percentage (.487; 1st) and rank Top 5 in the conference in sac flies (21; 2nd), runs per game (8.1; 3rd), batting average (.310; 3rd), on-base percentage (.412; 3rd), home runs per game (1.21; 3rd), total home runs (34; 4th) and total runs (226; 5th).
  • Penn State has five players with a .324 or better average, seven with a .400+ on-base percentage and eight with a .400+ slugging percentage.
  • Penn State and Indiana are the only Big Ten teams with seven players owning at least 21 RBI.
  • Graduate student J.T. Marr paces the squad with a .414 average and 48 hits. He owns seven doubles, four homers, 30 RBI and 25 runs.
  • With a 17-of-35 start (.486) and 14 RBI at the plate in conference play, Bobby Marsh is hitting .365 with 35 hits, including seven doubles, one triple, one homer, 24 RBI and 20 runs. His .486 average ranks seventh in the Big Ten.
  • Riding a 12-game hit streak and holding a .469 average (15-of-32) in Big Ten play, Bryce Molinaro owns four homers, among 35 hits, and 23 RBI to go with a .324 average.
  • Graduate student Adam Cecere is hitting .330 with 31 hits, including seven doubles and eight homers, 25 RBI and a team-best 29 runs. He has a team-high 27 walks and eight hit-by-pitches. He is hitting .351 in Big Ten play with three homers and 10 RBI.
  • The Pennsylvania native hit two homers on March 15 against UMass Lowell, his sixth career multi-homer game, launched a three-run homer at Illinois (3/30) and hit a solo homer against Northwestern (4/5).
  • Cecere paces the team with a .660 slugging percentage and a .504 on-base percentage.
  • He ranks first in Big Ten with a 1.164 OPS, second in slugging percentage (.660) and second in on-base percentage (.504). He's also fourth in the conference in total walks (27) and third in walks per game (0.96).
  • Cecere is one of 18 current Division I players with 40+ homers and 141+ RBI in their career. Among active DI players, Cecere is 19th in homers (40).
  • Grant Norris has 30 hits, including six doubles and eight homers, 26 RBI and 20 runs.
  • Norris collected his first career multi-homer game against Northwestern (4/6).
  • Cecere and Norris are tied fourth in the Big Ten with eight homers.
  • Joe Jaconski is ninth in the Big Ten in walks (23) and owns 30 hits and 25 runs. He crushed a grand slam in the series finale against Northwestern (4/7).
  • Junior Matt Maloney is batting .324 with 25 RBI along with seven doubles and a homer.

 
NORTHWESTERN SERIES RECAP

  • Penn State earned its first series sweep of the 2024 season and picked up its first Big Ten sweep since April 21-23, 2023 against Ohio State.
  • In the series, the Blue and White batted .408 at the plate with 42 hits, including nine doubles, three triples and seven homers, and 35 runs in 25 innings.
  • On the mound, Penn State's starting pitchers, Travis Luensmann, Jaden Henline and Frankie Sanchez, earned the win in each game and combined for 18 innings.
  • Bobby Marsh went 8-of-12 (.667), with two doubles, a triple and seven RBI, while Bryce Molinaro hit .636 (7-of-11) with three extra-base hits and three RBI. Grant Norris launched three homers and drove in five runs.
  • In game one, Norris, Adam Cecere and J.T. Marr each homered.
  • On Saturday, Norris blasted a pair of two-run homers.
  • On Sunday, Joe Jaconski launched a grand slam and drove in six runs, while Molinaro homered. Sanchez threw six innings, allowing one run.

 
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 seventh in the Big Ten in total steals (10) and eighth in steals per game (0.42).
  • 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' .550 career slugging percentage sits sixth all-time at Penn State, while sophomore Bobby Marsh's .510 slugging percentage is eighth all-time.