Baseball Gameday: at Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – For the first time since 2015, the Indiana baseball program will head to central Pennsylvania to face off with Penn State. After three straight home series with the Nittany Lions, the Hoosiers hit the road for a weekend series for the first time since the first weekend of March.

After a weekend sweep of Ohio State, Indiana (18-7, 3-0 B1G) defeated Kent State in a midweek game to push its winning streak to eight games. Penn State (13-8, 0-3 B1G) dropped all three games at Michigan to open Big Ten play but rebounded with a 16-8 win over Pittsburgh in midweek action.

Gameday Info
Friday, March 31, 2023
IU: TBA
PSU: Daniel Ouderkirk, RHP, Gr.

Live Video: bit.ly/3M5fuS3
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

Saturday, April 1, 2023
IU: Luke Sinnard, RHP, So.
PSU: TBA

Live Video: bit.ly/42VmMh0
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

Sunday, April 2, 2023
IU: TBA
PSU: TBA

Live Video: bit.ly/3nzKhfF
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

Quick Hitter

Indiana and Penn State will meet in Happy Valley for the first time since 2015. The two teams have met 87 previous times, with Indiana owning a slim two-game lead in the all-time series.
MORE ON PAGE 3
The Hoosiers have won 16 straight games at home, including a 15-game winning streak in 2023. It marks the longest home winning streak in Bart Kaufman Field history and the second-longest streak in program history.
MORE ON PAGE 3
Sophomore Carter Mathison has played in 84 career games and has 75 career RBIs over that span to go along with 22 home runs.
MORE ON PAGE 7
Sophomore Luke Sinnard struck out 13 Morehead State batters on March 17 to earn his third win of the season and earn national honors for his outing.
MORE ON PAGE 8
Senior Hunter Jessee carried a 34-game reached base streak between the 2022 and 2023 seasons, which marked a career long for the left-handed hitter and the second longest such streak since at least 2005.
MORE ON PAGE 7
Senior Phillip Glasser enters the weekend with a 25-game reached base and has 15 multi-hit games in that span.
MORE ON PAGE 6
Glasser is also among the top-50 active hitters in a bevy of categories, including No. 4 with 234 career hits.
MORE ON PAGE 6
After its first Big Ten series sweep since 2021, sophomore Brock Tibbitts and freshman Devin Taylor were honored by the Big Ten with Player and Co-Freshman of the Week accolades, respectively.
MORE ON PAGE 8
Head coach Jeff Mercer became the eighth IU skipper to reach 100 victories in the cream and crimson with a series finale win at Auburn on February 19, 2023.
FULL BIO ON PAGE 18

Scouting the Opponent

Penn State enters the weekend with a 13-8 overall record but sit 0-3 in the Big Ten after getting swept last weekend at Michigan.
The Nittany Lions are 4-0 at home and 8-2 in neutral site games, but just 1-6 in true road games on the season. One of the four home wins came on Tuesday night against Pitt, 16-8.
Five of their everyday starters are hitting over .300 on the season, led by Thomas Bramley's .325 average to go along with a .469 on-base percentage (19 walks).
Eight hitters have reached double-digits in RBIs and seven own double-digit runs scored. Jay Harry leads the team with 19 RBIs, while Kyle Hannon has a team-best 23 runs scored.
Travis Luensmann owns a 4-1 record in six appearances - four starts - and a 3.49 ERA. He owns a .194 batting average against with 26 strikeouts but has walked 20 and hit seven batters in 28 1/3 innings.

Inside the Series

Indiana and Penn State have met 87 times in program history, with the first coming in 1992, which was Penn State's first season in the Big Ten.
The all-time series sits at 45-42 in favor of the Hoosiers, and Indiana has won 17 of the last 21 meetings dating back to the 2012 series in Happy Valley. That includes a current six-game winning streak.
This will be the first trip to Penn State for the Hoosiers since 2015, when the two teams split a pair of games in a rain-shortened series at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. IU won the opener, 5-4, in 12 innings and PSU took a 13-7 win in the second game of a doubleheader.
Of the previous 87 meetings, 25 of those have been decided by one run.
The two teams have also played some high-scoring games, with eight contests topping 20 combined runs. The highest scoring of them all was a 23-17 Indiana win during the 1998 season in Bloomington.
Penn State head coach Rob Cooper coached Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer from 2007-09 at Wright State.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Phillip Glasser

Hunter Jessee

Carter Mathison

Luke Sinnard

Devin Taylor

Brock Tibbitts