Baseball welcomes Bucknell on Tuesday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The Penn State baseball team will host Bucknell on Tuesday, April 4th to continue a nine-game homestand. The Nittany Lions and Bison are set for first pitch at 6:00 PM at Medlar Field in Lubrano Park. The match will be broadcast on B1G+.

Nittany Lions, as leaders Rob Cooper, are 14-10 overall after playing one of three Indiana games. In the first game, PSU won 7-2 with four shutout innings Travis Luensmann and Homers over Billy Gerlott and Tayven Kelley.

Bucknell is 13-14 this season coming into Monday’s doubleheader at Holy Cross.

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 Family Clothesline presents the 2023 Penn State baseball season.

PARKING

Parking for Penn State Baseball games at Medlar Field in Lubrano Park is available at the following locations beginning two hours prior to the start of each game:

Visit at 2023 Baseball Parking Page for more information.

Parking for non-football events is managed by Penn State Transportation Services. For more information on parking for this event, please email [email protected] or call 814-865-1436.

PROMOTIONS

Tuesday Dollar Dog Night ($1 hot dogs)

• Hot Dog sales are limited to four hot dogs per purchase.

APPANAGE

LEAD AWAY

• Penn State welcomes Bucknell for a non-conference matchup to continue a nine-game homestand.
• The Nittany Lions are 131-31-1 all-time against the Bison.
• Last season, the teams shared a couple of games of one series.
• Penn State is 5-2 at home this season and 2-1 in Wednesday games.
• The Nittany Lions played one of three games against Indiana last weekend.
• Penn State won the first game of the series 7-2, but fell 4-1 in the second game and 22-11 in the third.
• Travis Luensmann was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week after throwing four shutout innings of relief in the first game. He recorded a career-best 10 strikeouts.
• Luensmann made his fourth appearance with 4+ innings and 1 run or less this season.
• Thomas Bramley leads PSU with .333 average, 22 walks and 1.011 OPS with 29 hits.
• Jay Harry paces team with 20 hits and 20 RBI while batting .300.

SCOUTING BUCKNELL

• Scott Heather is in his 11th season as the head coach of the Bucknell program.
• Heather has led the Bison to 191 wins during her tenure.
• Bucknell is 13-14 this season, including 7-5 in Patriot League play after dropping a doubleheader at Holy Cross on Monday.
• The Bisons are hitting .285 as a team.
• Kyle Lyons leads the team with a .366 average and 34 hits, while Sean Keys is batting .316 with 30 hits, including a team-best six homers and 26 RBIs.
• Bucknell’s pitching staff has a 5.82 ERA and is allowing a .282 opponent batting average.
• Theo Farynick leads the staff with 10 appearances.
• Ryan Osinski has a 1.50 ERA in seven games, while Nick Mulvey is 1-0 with a 2.30 ERA in nine games.

AGAINST THE BISON

• Penn State owns the series 131-31-1.
• Last season, the teams split two games, with the Bison winning the second game 8-7.
• In the first game last season, Penn State overcame a five-run first inning by the Bison to win 7-6.
• Bucknell is one of five opponents Penn State has played more than 100 times, joining Michigan (49-54), Ohio State (40-73), Pitt (90-46-1) and West Virginia (72-43).

LUENSMANN, OUDERKIRK MANAGER STAFF

• Secondary school graduate Daniel OuderkirkA West Virginia transfer, has made an immediate impact in Penn State’s rotation.
• Ouderkirk has 45 strikeouts in 28.1 innings and has multiple hits in 14 different innings this season. In seven starts, he has limited opponents to a .222 average.
• The 6-9 righty ranks 14th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (14.29) and ranks second in the Big Ten. He is fifth in the conference in total points (45).
• 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 to have three straight starts with 10+ strikeouts since at least 2004.
• He is one of 14 Division I pitchers with multiple starts of 11+ strikeouts and 1 or fewer earned runs this season, and one of eight 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 shutout innings against Indiana. His 10 strikeouts were a career high.
• In seven appearances (five starts), Luensmann is 4-1 with a 3.06 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 32.1 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.

MOVES TO GIVE A 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.
• Graduate students associated with Ouderkirk Thomas Bramley (Mount St. Mary’s) and Grant Norris (Duke) and a freshman Bobby Marsh (Florida Atlantic).
• Through seven starts, Ouderkirk has 45 strikeouts in 28.1 innings with an opposing batting average of .222. His 14.29 strikeouts per nine innings ranks second in the Big Ten.
• A college friend Thomas Bramley has started all 24 games, splitting time between catcher, outfield and designated hitter. Bramley is batting .333 with 29 hits, including six doubles, a triple and three homers, and has a team-high 22 walks. He has reached base in 28 straight games dating back to 2022.
• Norris has started 15 games at third base since transferring from Duke.
• Norris hit his first homer as a Nittany Lion off the foul pole in the second game against Northern Illinois and is batting .308 with two homers and 17 RBI.
• Freshman Bobby Marsh, a Bellefonte native who transferred from Florida Atlantic, has played in 18 games (12 starts). He owns six doubles, two homers and eight RBIs.
• Marsh started his first career home game against Holy Cross and added a solo homer against Brown.

BALANCED CUTTING

• Thomas Bramley hit a team-best .333 with 29 hits and 22 walks Jay Harry leads team with 30 hits and 20 RBI with 21 runs and .300 average.
• Grant Norris (.308), Johnny Piacentino (.305) and Josh Spiegel (.305) is also hitting over .300 with Piacentino contributing 22 runs and 13 RBIs, while Norris has 17 RBIs and Spiegel has four hits and four RBIs in Game 3 against Indiana.
• Kyle Hannon paces the team with six homers, 25 runs and 15 RBIs. He is on pace to become the first Penn State player with 10+ homers and 10+ RBIs in a season since Sean Deegan (12 HR, 15 SB).
• Hannon leads the Big Ten in wins per game (0.62), good for 21st in sacks and total steals (15), and is 34th nationally.
• Hannon is one of seven Division I players with 6+ homers and 15+ RBIs this season.
• 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. Steele is one of three Division I players this season to have a homer, stolen base and RBI in the same game, joining Wright State’s Jay Luikart and Lafayette’s Seif Ingram.

OPENING WIN OVER MIAMI

• Penn State opened the 2023 season with a 9-5 win over Miami on February 17th.
• The Hurricanes were ranked No. 22 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 victory over a non-conference opponent since an 8-7 win over Duke in 2019.
• Travis Luensmann pitched five innings in the win, allowing just one run on two hits and striking out four.
• Penn State collected 16 hits, including six for the Nittany Lions with multiple hits.
• Billy Gerlott and Johnny Piacentino each had three hits, while Kyle Hannon and Tayven Kelley launched individual apartments.

NITTANY LIONS RETURN EXPERIENCED PITCHING STAFF

• The Nittany Lions welcome back an experienced pitching staff.
• Penn State pitchers started the 2023 season strong at No. 22 in Miami.
• Nittany Lions starting pitchers, Travis Luensmann, Daniel Ouderkirk and Tommy Molskycombined to throw 13.1 innings allowing eight hits and four earned runs while striking out 13 batters.
• The three starters posted a 2.70 ERA and held Miami’s hitters to a .170 average.
• Penn State set a program record with 503 strikeouts in 2022, with six members of the staff recording at least 40 strikeouts.
• The Nittany Lions returned 406,503 punts (81 percent) from last year.
• Penn State is one of nine Power Five programs and the only Big Ten school to return more than 400 punts from last season.
• Of the Power Five schools that return more than 400 punts, only Wake Forest (92%) returns a higher percentage of punts.
• In 49 of 55 games last season, Penn State’s starting pitcher was from Pennsylvania.
• Penn State’s pitching staff is versatile 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.

NEXT

• The Nittany Lions will host Delaware State next weekend starting Thursday, April 6th. Thursday and Friday’s games start at 18:00 and Sunday’s series finale at 14:00.
• Penn State resumes its home opener against No. 24 West Virginia on Tuesday, April 11. The first show is at 18:00 when the broadcast is broadcast on B1G+. Every Tuesday home game is Dollar Dog Night ($1 hot dogs).