Louie Picconi Class: Senior Hometown: North Merrick, N.Y. High School: Chaminade Height / Weight: 5-8 / 175 Position: MIF B/T: R/R

LOUIE PICCONI PHOTO GALLERIES 2009

Lou Picconi showed a lot of promise in sophomore season as he started 54 games for the Nittany Lions in 2008, gathering 40 hits over the course of the season. Picconi mainly started at shortshop and was second on the team with 169 assists, the fifth most in Penn State history. The North Merrick, N.Y. native led the Big Ten in sacrifice bunts with 13 on the season. Picconi will again be an integral part of the Nittany Lions' middle infield in 2009.

2008
Has held down the starting shortstop position this year in this, his second year of college ball....Has missed just one game, playing in 57 games and starting 54 of them....Has started 46 games at short and five at second base....Has hit mainly in the ninth spot in the order, hitting there in 45 of his 51 starts....Took a career-best five-game hitting streak into the Big Ten Tournament....Leads the team and the Big Ten in sacrifice bunts with 13, which ranks third in Penn State single season history and is just four shy of tying the record set by former teammate Scott Gaffney last year....Second on the team defensive assists with 169, which currently ranks fifth in school history for a single season....Has reached base safely in 43 of the 53 games in which he has recorded a plate appearance....Began the year by reaching base safely in nine straight games and in 21 of 22 games....Is hitting .412 in his last five games of the regular season.

Game-by-Game Highlights
_vs. High Point (2/24): Scored a run and went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice.
_vs. Wake Forest (3/2): Drew two walks, drove in a run and went 1-for-1.
_vs. Monmouth (3/10): Recorded his first multi-RBI game of the year with two RBIs and his first extra base hit of the year, a double in a 1-for-3 performance with a run scored vs. Monmouth.
_vs. Bethune Cookman (3/15): Knocked in two runs in a 1-for-4 performance with a walk.
_vs. Canisius (3/24): Drew three walks, scored a run and knocked in one.
_vs. Michigan (4/4): Went 1-for-3 with an RBI in the series opener against the Wolverines.
_vs. Purdue (4/13): Collected his first multiple-hit game of the year with a 2-for-5 performance, including a double and run in the series finale against Purdue.
_vs. Akron (4/15): Made it back-to-back games with two hits as he went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run and a sac.
_vs. La Salle (4/22): Had a career high three RBI and went 2-for-3 with a double.
_vs. Illinois (4/25): Went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run in the series opener.
_vs. Villanova (4/30): Set a career high with three hits and went 3-for-3 with a run and a double.
_vs. Iowa (5/11): Went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI in the series finale.
_vs. Minnesota (5/15): Scored a career high three runs and went 2-for-4 in the series opener against the Golden Gophers.

2007
Got six starts, all at second base, three of which came when Scott Gaffney pitched and Matt Cavagnaro moved over to short....Reached base safely in all six of his starts, amassing an on-base percentage of .433, which would have been tops on the team if he had enough at bats to qualify....Recorded more walks (4) than strikeouts (3) and also was plunked four times in just 28 plate appearances....Went 5-for-14 (.357) with four runs and five RBI in his last five starts of the year and hit in three straight games to end the year.

Game-by-Game Highlights
_vs. North Carolina (3/2): Drew a walk in his first career plate appearance at No. 1 North Carolina as a pinch hitter and scored a run.
_vs. Kent State (4/4): Went 1-for-2 and scored two runs while reaching base safely in three out of his four plate appearances and also recorded a career-high five defensive assists.
_vs. Michigan State (4/16): Reached base safely once again and drove in another run in the series finale win over Michigan State.
_vs. Mount St. Mary's (4/18): Drove in two runs with a double, his first career extra-base hit, and also reached base two other times on hit by pitches vs. Mount St. Mary's.
_vs. Northwestern (4/20-22): Scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning on Rick Marlin's game-winning single after pinch-running for Joe Blackburn to complete the four-run rally in the win over Northwestern. Went 2-for-3 with a run in the series finale win over the Wildcats.
_vs. Duquesne (4/24): Collected his second multi-RBI game with two more driven in and went 1-for-4.

Chaminade HS
Was a two-year letterwinner on the varsity squad at Chaminade High School in Mineola, N.Y., serving as a captain his senior year, and also was a member of the junior varsity and freshman squads....Was captain and MVP of his freshman squad that went 16-5 and was also captain of the JV team that went 18-3....Both his freshman team and JV team won CHSAA Championships....Was named All-League as a junior and senior as the team compiled a 53-9 combined record in his final two years....As a junior, hit .480 with four home runs, 46 RBI and 20 stolen bases as Chaminade won the Catholic League Championship....Was a member of the honor society at Chaminade....Played in the Empire State Games for three years....Was named one of the top 10 players in the Metro Area and one of the top 400 recruits in the country by Baseball America....Also played shortstop on the Long Island Titans summer league team, which was ranked No. 3 in the country and won a national championship during his time on the team.

Background
Louis James Picconi was born on January 27, 1988 in Queens, N.Y....The son of Gregory and Jane Picconi, he has a younger brother, Keith (18), and a younger sister, Christie (16)....His father is a New York City firefighter....He plans to major in business and would like to work on Wall Street in his career....He lists playing the guitar and surfing as his hobbies...His brother plays baseball at Niagra.