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Baseball Game Notes
Game Notes [pdf format] Sat.-Sun., April 28-29 State College Weather Forecast * - record does not include Pace's games on Tues.-Thurs PENN STATE OPEN SEASON LONG 11-GAME HOMESTAND THIS WEEKEND: The Nittany Lions open up an 11-game homestand to close out the regular season this weekend as they host Pace (N.Y.) in a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday. Penn State will face the Setters in a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., before closing out the series with a single game on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. NITTANY LIONS SPLIT SERIES AT OHIO STATE: Penn State looked to be in perfect position to become the first Big Ten squad to ever win a conference series at Ohio State's Bill Davis Stadium after defeating the Buckeyes in the first two games of a four-game set last weekend in Columbus by the scores of 8-3 and 9-4. It was not to be however as the Lions defense and pitching abandoned them in the final two games of the series as they allowed 22 runs and committed 11 errors over the final two games, including a season-high six blunders in a 16-6 loss in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader. BIG TEN SHORTHOPS: Penn State enters the weekend in fourth place in the Big Ten race at 10-8...Minnesota leads the league with a 15-4 mark and is closely followed by Purdue (14-4) and Ohio State (11-5)...the Gophers and Buckeyes square off in a pivotal conference series this weekend in Columbus...PSU second baseman Mike DeRenzo currently ranks third in the Big Ten in batting average at .404...Senior Dan McCall ranks fifth among the conference leaders with a 3.09 ERA...Chris Wright leads the league with 48 RBI and is tied for third overall with 15 doubles...C. Wright also ranks third in home runs with 10...Rod Perry has totaled the second-most stolen bases among league leaders at 18...DeRenzo's on-base percentage of .489 is fourth best among league leaders...McCall has the third lowest batting average against in the league at .229 and ranks eighth overall in strikeouts with 55...PSU starters Justin Nash and Pete Yodis are currently tied for most starts in the league three others at 11...Penn State is batting .309 as a team in 19 Big Ten games, fifth-best in the conference...the squad's ERA of 4.08 in conference tilts ranks third overall...the Lions ranks sixth in the league in fielding at .958. RADIO/WEBCAST SCHEDULE: Each of the Lions' next two series will be broadcast in its entirety on 1450 AM WMAJ and/or www.GoPSUsports.com. CHRIS WRIGHT LEADS SQUAD VS. BUCKEYES, MOVES UP CAREER LISTS: Chris Wright (State College, Pa.) paced Penn State at the plate last week as he totaled a .500 average (10-for-20) with two home runs and a team-high 11 RBI. Wright currently ranks fifth all-time in Penn State career annals with 122 RBI and sits in fourth place on the career doubles list with 45. PENN STATE SKIPPER HINDELANG RETURNS, WINS 300th GAME: Penn State head coach Joe Hindelang returned to the field after being hospitalized last week after complaining of nausea. After all tests were returned negative, Hindelang unexpectedly returned in time to coach the Lions' their 11-9 win over St. Bonaventure on Wednesday. The win marked the 299th win in Hindelang's career as Penn State skipper. PENN STATE-BUCKNELL GAME POSTPONED: Tuesday's scheduled game between Penn State and Bucknell was postponed due to inclement weather. No make up date for the contest has been scheduled. DeRENZO CONTINUES SOLID SEASON: Mike DeRenzo (Murrysville, Pa.) has continued his torrid season and is currently hitting at a .404 clip. His batting average ranks first on the Nittany Lion squad and third in the Big Ten. DeRenzo also has the highest on-base percentage among all Nittany Lions at .489. CHRIS WRIGHT ON RBI TEAR: Junior Chris Wright (State College, Pa.) has exploded for 20 RBI while hitting .421 over his last 10 games. Wright has blasted four home runs and is slugging at a .868 clip during his recent hot streak. DONNIE WRIGHT INJURY UPDATE: Penn State slugger Donnie Wright (Bethesda, Md.) suffered a sprained ankle during the team's series last week with Ohio State and is expected to miss this weekend's series with Pace (N.Y.). Wright injured the ankle when he stepped on a baseball during the team's batting practice prior to its doubleheader with the Buckeyes on April 21. The injury forced the senior first baseman to miss the final three games of the Ohio State series. FRIGID TEMPS HIGHLIGHT WIN OVER BONAVENTURE: Penn State's 11-9 win over St. Bonaventure on Wednesday marked one of the coldest games played in the program's history as the game time temperature was listed at 36 degrees with wind chills as low as 15 degrees. Winds were whipping along at 10-20 mph and creating havoc on outfielders trying to track down fly balls. RICHMOND RETURNS TO LINEUP: Junior John Richmond (Pittsburgh, Pa.) returned to the lineup during the Purdue series after playing mostly a reserve role. Richmond started all six games last week, either at shortstop or in the outfield, and notched a solid .340 batting average with six runs and six RBI in two games vs. James Madison and four at Purdue. STREAK BREAKERS: Penn State's 3-1 win in the second game of a double header on April 14 broke Purdue's 13-game winning-streak, which at the time marked the longest-such winning skein in the nation. is tied for fourth overall with 37 RBI. WATSON NAMED BIG TEN PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Mike Watson (Altoona, Pa.) became the second Penn Stater to be honored with Big Ten Pitcher of the Week status when he was recognized for the period ending April 8. Watson pitched a three-hit shutout in Penn State's 1-0 win over Iowa on April 8 to earn the honor. It marked only the third start of his career. NETWALL SECOND ON CAREER HOME RUN LIST, THIRD IN RBI : Chris Netwall currently ranks second overall on the Penn State career home run list at 34. The senior is nine round trippers behind Shawn Fagan for the top mark in school annals. Netwall is also third in career RBI at 133. CHRIS WRIGHT CLIMBING DOUBLES CHART : Junior Chris Wright (State College, Pa.) currently ranks fourth in in career doubles in Penn State annals at 45. Wright needs eight more two-baggers to tie Michael Campo for the school record. WATSON SOLIDIFIES ROLE AS STARTER: Penn State junior right hander Mike Watson (Altoona, Pa.) won his second straight start and tossed the Lions' first complete-game shutout of the season in the team's 1-0 win over Iowa on April 7. Watson, who limited Iowa to just three hits, has won back-to-back starts after spending the majority of his career as one of Penn state's top arms in the bullpen. Watson had just one career start entering this season. DAN McCALL TOSSES BACK-TO-BACK COMPLETE GAMES: Senior left-hander Dan McCall (Boalsburg, Pa.) threw his second-straight complete game and improved to 3-0 on the year while leading the Lions to a 3-1 win over Iowa on April 6. McCall fanned a season-high 11 batters in the win. PSU TOTALS SEASON-HIGH 26 RUNS AND 18 HITS AT CORNELL: The Lions put together its best offensive performance of the season as it registered season-highs with 18 hits and 26 runs in its 26-4 rout at Cornell on April 4. Five Nittany Lions finished the contest with multiple base hits, led by Zack Smithlin (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Willie Melendez (Cayey, Puerto Rico) who each finished with three. The Nittany Lions also ripped a season-high five home runs in the win, each by a different player. Included in the home run barrage was the first career round tripper for Penn State freshman Matt Harter (Centre Hall, Pa.), who belted a three-run shot in the win. CHRIS WRIGHT BANGS OUT SIX RBI IN WIN AT CORNELL: Penn State junior Chris Wright (State College, Pa.) tied his career-high in the Lions 26-4 win over Cornell on April 4. Sophomore Zack Smithlin (Fair Lawn, N.J.) also contributed to Penn State's offensive outburst with a career-best five RBI. LIONS ADD SINGLE CONTEST AT BUCKNELL TO SCHEDULE: In order to make up one of its two contests cancelled this year due to weather, the Nittany Lions baseball team has added a single game at Bucknell on Tuesday, April 17. The contest, which will be played at the Bisons' Bucknell Field and is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Penn State previously faced Bucknell on March 28 at Beaver Field and came away with a 6-1 win. 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 last week. McCall shared 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. 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. At Michigan on March 30-31, Netwall erased each of the runners who attempted to steal and also managed to pick off a runner from first. 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. DONNIE WRIGHT HAVING CAREER YEAR : Senior Donnie Wright (Bethesda, Md.) is having the best season of his career as he currently is among the Penn State leaders in home runs (9), RBI (34), runs (33), walks (20) and slugging percentage (.664). He currently holds a .366 batting average and has surpassed his single-season total for home runs in a season. RODIO SETS SCHOOL RECORD FOR SAC FLIES: Penn State junior transfer Doug Rodio enters the week as the school's single-season record holder for sac flies. Rodio, who currently has seven sac flies, broke the previous school mark with his seventh mercy fly of the year on April 8 vs. Iowa. 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 79-54 over the first two innings of games this season. Foes are out-scoring Penn State 35-21 in the first and 44-33 in the second. CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: Penn State has struggled in close games this year as it currently has an overall record of 3-7 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. 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 will continue its season-long 11-game homestand next weekend as it hosts Big Ten rival Northwestern in a four-game series at Beaver Field on May 4-6. The Lions will then close out the regular season with a four-game set vs. Michigan State on May 11-13 at Beaver Field. RECORD WATCH (Career Leaders) Hits Home Runs RBI Runs Doubles Innings Pitched Strikeouts Starts Appearances
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