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Baseball Game Notes
Game Notes [pdf format] Wed., March 28, 1:00 p.m. (Doubleheader) Fri.-Sun. April 6-8 Ithaca/State College Weather Forecast PENN STATE ENTERS WEEK WINNERS OF FIVE STRAIGHT: The Nittany Lions enter the week riding a season-high five game winning streak following a three-game sweep at Michigan last weekend (last game of four-game series was cancelled due to snow). Penn State has also been victorious in six of its last seven contests and has opened the conference slate at 5-1. RADIO/WEBCAST SCHEDULE: Each of the four games between Penn State and Iowa this weekend will be broadcast live by 90.7 WKPS FM and via the internet at www.GoPSUsports.com. There is no radio or internet coverage scheduled for the doubleheader at Cornell on Wednesday afternoon. THE SERIES: Penn State leads its series with Cornell 30-20. The Lions last faced the Big Red during the 2000 season, where it claimed a sweep of a doubleheader on April 4 at Beaver Field by the scores of 13-3 and 12-9. Penn State and Cornell first met in 1906. LIONS OFF TO RECORD CONFERENCE START: With its three wins at Michigan last weekend, the Nittany Lions are off to their best conference start since joining the Big Ten in 1992 at 5-1. Penn State, which finished 18-9 in Big Ten games last season, opened the conference slate 5-3 following its first two league series in 2000. During the 1996 season, in which the Lions claimed the regular season conference title, Penn State opened 4-3. McCALL NAMED BIG TEN CO-PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Penn State senior left-hander Dan McCall (Boalsburg, Pa.) has been named Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Week Big Ten Conference officials announced today. McCall will share the honor with Minnesota's Mike Kobrow. McCall won his second straight start as he tossed the first nine-inning complete game by a Penn State pitcher this season in the squad's 2-1 win at Michigan last Friday. The senior allowed only one run while striking out five batters to improve to 2-0 on the season. The Boalsburg, Pa., native leads Penn State starting pitchers with a 2.90 ERA and ranks second with 40.1 innings pitched. His 40 strikeouts on the year lead the staff and already are more than his total of 39 during the 2000 campaign. DERENZO RIPS FIRST CAREER HOME RUN VERSUS WOLVERINES: Penn State second baseman Mike DeRenzo (Murrysville, Pa.) continued his torrid start to the season as he blasted his first career home run in game three of the Lions series at Michigan last weekend. DeRenzo, who was the surprise winner of the Lions regular second base position, is currently leading Penn State with a .407 batting average and also has tallied a team-best .407 on-base percentage. HINDELANG SOLIDIFIES LINEUP: After shuffling his lineup to find the right combination throughout the early part of the season, it appears that the Penn State coaching staff has settled on a regular starting nine with the exception of a platoon situation in right field. LIONS IN HOME OPENERS: With its 6-1 win over Bucknell in their 2001 home opener, the Nittany Lions improved to 8-3 overall in home openers since 1991. Penn State has won six of its last seven home openers at Beaver Field. PENN STATE IN CONFERENCE HOME OPENERS: The Nittany Lions are 6-3 in Big Ten home openers since joining the conference in 1992. Penn State had won its last four Big Ten home openers prior to a 3-1 loss to Indiana to open the home league slate last season. SMITHLIN ON 14-GAME TEAR: Sophomore Zack Smithlin (Fair Lawn, N.J.) is currently riding a team-best 14-game hitting streak, the longest by any Nittany Lion this season. Smithlin went 6-of-18 in three games at Michigan this weekend with two runs and two RBI. Smithlin currently ranks fourth on the squad with a .333 average and is a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts. LIONS TAME WOLVERINES: With its three-game sweep of Michigan last weekend, Penn State has now won 14 of its last 15 games versus the Wolverines dating back to 1998. DON'T RUN ON NETWALL: Penn State catcher Chris Netwall (Allentown, Pa.) is one of the top all-around catchers in the Big Ten. Entering its series with Penn State, Indiana had stolen a total of 56 bases in 61 attempts. Versus Netwall and the Lions the Hoosiers only attempted to steal once and were thrown out in that lone attempt. For the season, Netwall has tossed out 14 of 30 would-be base stealers (47%). LIONS TIE SEASON HIGH FOR HITS AT MICHIGAN: Penn State tied a team season-high with 15 hits in its 9-3 at Michigan in game two of a doubleheader last Saturday. Wes Reohr (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) registered the first three-hit game of his Nittany Lion career to lead the offensive surge for Penn State. Doug Rodio (Cherry Hill, N.J.) also notched a trio of hits in the win over the Wolverines. Penn State previously recorded 15 hits this season at Virginia on Feb. 24. WATSON MAKES SECOND CAREER START : Primarily used as a reliever throughout his career, Penn State's Mike Watson (Altoona, Pa.) made only the second start of his career in 33 appearances at Michigan in game two of last Saturday's doubleheader. NETWALL THIRD ON CAREER HOME RUN LIST, FIFTH IN RBI : Chris Netwall currently ranks third on the Penn State career home run list at 31. The senior needs two more home runs to tie Dan Beers for second. Shawn Fagan is the all-time career leader in dingers at 43. PSU Career Leaders (Home Runs) PSU Career Leaders (RBI) CHRIS WRIGHT CLIMBING DOUBLES CHART : Junior Chris Wright (State College, Pa.) currently ranks fourth in in career doubles in Penn State annals at 41. Wright needs 12 more two-baggers to tie Michael Campo for the school record. PSU Career Leaders (Doubles) DONNIE WRIGHT HAVING CAREER YEAR : Senior Donnie Wright (Bethesda, Md.) is having the best season of his career as he currently leads the Penn State offense in home runs (6), RBI (23), runs (22), walks (17) and slugging percentage (.694). He currently holds a .376 batting average and needs just one more home run to match his previous season high of seven set in 1999. RODIO NEARING SCHOOL RECORD FOR SAC FLIES: Penn State junior transfer Doug Rodio enters the week in need of just one more sacrifice fly to tie the school record for most in a single season. Rodio, who currently has five sac flies, needs one more to tie a group of four Nittany Lions the single-season mark. Included in the group are current Penn Stater Zack Smithlin. DONNIE WRIGHT BANGS OUT THREE BOMBS IN TWO GAMES AT DELAWARE: Donnie Wright was a bright spot in last weekend's (March 17-18) three losses at Delaware. The first baseman belted three home runs in the series opening doubleheader on March 17, including a pair in the opening game. He also added a team-high five RBI versus the Blue Hens. SLOW STARTS, FAST FINISHES: The Lions have been out-scored by their opponents 49-26 over the first two innings of games this season. Foes are out-scoring Penn State 22-10 in the first and 27-16 in the second. CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: Penn State has struggled in close games this year as it currently has an overall record of 2-5 in games decided by one run. SKIPPER HINDELANG NETS 500th CAREER WIN: Penn State head coach Joe Hindelang earned the 500th win of his 24-year head coaching career in the Lions 7-6 extra-inning win over Virginia on Feb. 25. Hindelang currently has an overall mark of 505-454-3, including a record of 288-254-2 in 10-plus years at the helm of the Nittany Lions. The other 218 came in previous stints at Lafayette and Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science. SEASON-OPENING WOES: With its 10-5 season-opening loss at Wake Forest, the Nittany Lions have now opened up the last three seasons with a loss. Penn State last won its season opener during the 1998 season, when it defeated this week's opponent, Charlotte 7-5. Since 1991, Penn State is 4-7 in season openers. ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Penn State played its first 24 games on the road to open the 2001 season before returning to Happy Valley to host Bucknell in the team's home opener on March 28. Overall, the Nittany Lions are scheduled to play 30 of their first 31 games away from Beaver Field. LIONS VISIT PARK FOREST MIDDLE SCHOOL: Members of the Penn State baseball team and coaching staff held an assembly at Park Forest Middle School in State College on Wed., Feb. 21. Nittany Lion skipper Joe Hindelang joined assistant coach Dave Jameson, who is also a teacher at the school, in stressing the importance of enhancing reading and writing skills. MORE PRESEASON HONORS: Street & Smith's recently ranked Penn State as the No. 25 collegiate baseball team in the country in its annual Baseball Preview Issue which hit newsstands Feb. 20. The Nittany Lions were slated at No. 25 in the publications top 25. Georgia Tech topped the poll at No. 1, while Illinois was the top ranked Big Ten squad at No. 15. Minnesota also made the poll at No. 22. WHO'S BACK: Penn State returns 21 letterwinners, including six starters and five pitchers from last season's squad that advanced to the first Super Regional in the program's history. Included in the returnees were 2000 All-Big Ten selections Chris Netwall (C), Dan McCall (LHP), Chris Wright (3B) and Pete Yodis (RHP). Netwall is among the school's career offensive leaders in numerous categories and is recognized as one of the best all-around catchers in the Big Ten after being drafted by the Colorado Rockies in last year's Major league Baseball Draft. Wright is the team's top returning hitter after posting a .382 average last season with nine home runs and 58 RBI. McCall and Yodis are expected to be two of the top starters in the Nittany Lions rotation. Yodis is the team's most experienced hurler after he notched a team-high 114.2 innings a year ago and a 3.69 ERA. McCall enjoyed a solid 2000 season as well registering a 5-2 record and a 3.86 ERA. Justin Nash (RHP) and true-freshman David Aardsma (RHP) are expected to round out Penn State's starting rotation. WHO'S GONE: The Nittany Lions saw a bulk of their offensive output graduate to the professional level as All-American Michael Campo, All-Big Ten standouts Shawn Fagan and Eric Spadt finished their eligibility. The trio accounted for 267 hits and 177 RBI while hitting at a .378 clip. Penn State also lost a pair of quality arms in Dan Goebeler and Scott Russo. The duo played a key role in 17 of the team's 45 wins last season. WHO'S NEW: Joining the Nittany Lions for the 2001 season will be 12 newcomers, a number of which will play prominent roles for the team this season. Three of the new faces which could make huge contributions early are right-handed pitcher David Aardsma and outfielders Rod Perry and Doug Rodio. ISN'T YOUR DAD...?: Penn State newcomer Brock Upshaw is no stranger to high profile athletes. The junior transfer from Virginia Commonwealth shares common bloodlines with former Major League Baseball standout Willie Upshaw, who is his father. In addition, Brock Upshaw's uncle Gene Upshaw is a former member of the NFL's Oakland Raiders and is the current head of the National Football League's Player Association. Another of Upshaw's uncles, Marvin Upshaw was a wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins. Currently, Brock's sister, Courtney Upshaw is a freshman on the Lady Lion basketball team. TWO-SPORT STAR: Penn State junior outfielder Rod Perry is also a member of the Nittany Lion football squad. Perry is expected to compete for a starting spot in the Penn State outfield this season after arriving in Happy Valley via the University of Southern California where he was a member of the Trojans' 1998 College World Series Championship squad. Perry is one of five Penn State student-athletes who compete in two sports. The others include Bob Jones (football, wrestling), Katie Schumacher (volleyball, basketball), Terrence Glover (football, track) and Shaun Anderson (swimming, track). QUARTET OF NITTANY LIONS ON ROTARY WATCH LIST: Four Nittany Lions were named in the recently released Rotary Award Watch List. The Rotary Award is given to the top player in college baseball each season. Named to the watch list were seniors catcher Chris Netwall, left-handed pitcher Dan McCall, right-handed pitcher Pete Yodis and third baseman Chris Wright. BASEBALL AMERICA HONORS NETWALL: Baseball America recognized Penn State senior catcher Chris Netwall as the top defensive catcher in the Big Ten Conference in its College Baseball Preseason Preview Issue. He was also slated as one of the top-50 senior pro prospects nationally this season in the publication's Fab 50 feature. Netwall returned to the Nittany Lions for his senior campaign after being drafted in the 32nd round of the 2000 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the Colorado Rockies. The catcher registered a .347 batting average along with nine home runs and 41 RBI during his junior campaign. He also ranks among the school's career leaders in hits, home runs and RBI. NITS PICKED TO FINISH FOURTH IN BIG TEN BY BASEBALL AMERICA: Baseball America tabbed Minnesota as the favorite in the Big Ten Conference in its preseason preview, followed by Purdue and Illinois. The Nittany Lions were slotted in the fourth spot, just ahead of Ohio State and Michigan. IN THE RANKINGS: Penn State was mentioned by each of the major polls in their respective preseason editions. The Nittany Lions were ranked as No. 56 in Baseball America's preseason top 100. Penn State received the 37th-most votes in the USA Today/ESPN preseason coaches poll and were ranked No. 40 in Collegiate Baseball's Preseason Fabulous 40. 2001 Schedule Notes: FOUR PLAYERS, ONE SIGNEE SELECTED IN DRAFT: Seniors Shawn Fagan and Eric Spadt, along with juniors Chris Netwall and Scott Russo were among the players selected in the 50 rounds of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. NITTANY LIONS ON THE AIR: The radio and internet broadcast schedule for Penn State baseball was finalized recently and Nittany Lion fans have reason to celebrate as 30 of the next 36 Nittany Lion games will be aired via the radio and/or internet. LOCAL TALENT CONNECTION: The Penn State baseball squad boasts a total of six players from the Centre Region, including four graduates of State College Area High School. Senior Dan McCall, juniors Chris Wright and Jason McIntyre along with true-freshman Aaron Tressler each played for the Little Lions prior to joining the Nittany Lion squad. UP NEXT: Penn State hosts James Madison in a doubleheader on Tues., April 10 at 1:00 p.m. at Beaver Field. The Lions will then return to the road as they travel to West Lafayette, Ind., for a four-game Big Ten series with conference foe Purdue on Fri.-Sun., April 13-15.
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