MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (May 20, 2003) - The Penn State baseball team will make its third appearance in four seasons in the Big Ten Tournament as the fourth seed when it takes the field for a 1:05 p.m. contest versus No. 5 Northwestern Wednesday at Siebert Field.

The Nittany Lions finished fourth in the conference with a 26-26 overall mark and 17-15 record in the Big Ten. They took three out of four games from the Wildcats Apr. 18-20 at Beaver Field. Wednesday's game will be broadcast live by ESPN Radio WMAJ 1450 AM and a link to listen will be available at www.GoPSUsports.com.

"I'm proud of our team," said head coach Joe Hindelang. "We had a difficult season last year and we missed the tournament. But we came back and got our act together. We played better baseball and we won 17 games.

"I really think that all of the Big Ten series are psychological and emotional wars. I just expect our team to give the best effort. We are healthy and we'll see where that takes us."

This will be Penn State's fifth appearance in the conference's postseason tournament. The Nittany Lions are 5-8 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament and Northwestern is 6-10.

Junior Jim Farrell (Harleysville, Pa.), who was named to the All-Big Ten Third Team, will start Game 1 of the tournament for the Nittany Lions. Farrell is 6-3 on the season with 53 strikeouts and a 3.80 ERA in 64.0 innings pitched. Farrell gave up one run on six hits, struck out 11 and walked just two over eight innings in an 11-1 victory over the Wildcats Apr. 20. He was named co-Big Ten Pitcher of the Week back on Mar. 24.

The Wildcats, who are 25-23 overall and 15-14 in the Big Ten, will send right-hander Dan Konecny to the mound against Penn State. Konecny gave up six runs (one earned) on seven hits, walked four and struck out three over five innings as the Nittany Lions went on to win 6-4 on Apr. 18.

Wednesday's other opening round game will match No. 3 Michigan (29-25, 16-14) with No. 6 Indiana (33-20, 16-15) at 3:35 p.m. The two teams have not met since 2001 and they have never met in conference tournament play. Number 1 Minnesota and No. 2 Ohio State received first round byes in the tournament.