Northwestern Baseball to play Penn State in Big Ten home opener

The Penn State Nittany Lions come into town to face the Wildcats in a 3-game weekend series at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park as Northwestern looks to build on their recent success.

Northwestern awaits the Penn State Nittany Lions as the Wildcats look to take the field for their first home series in conference play on the 2022 season. The 'Cats took two-of-three in their Big Ten opening series against the Indiana Hoosiers last weekend in Bloomington.

The Opponent

Penn State comes into the series 11-15 overall and 4-6 in their last 10 games. The Nittany Lions won their last contest a 1-game matchup against Bucknell, 7-6, but dropped two-of-three against no. 23 Maryland on April 1-3. 

Left off of the 2022 Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll as a team, three players on Penn State's Roster were named to the preseason honors list in the Big Ten. Outfielder Johnny Piacentino and catcher Matt Wood were added to the watchlist as positional players, while right handed pitcher Travis Luensmann was added on the mound. Piacentino has been injured and underperformed, as he has played in just 14 of Penn State's 26 games so far and is hitting .255, but Wood leads the team in nearly every category at the plate, including batting average (.409), home runs (4), runs batted in (23), hits (36), slugging percentage (.648) and on-base percentage (.486). Luensmann is 1-2 with a 5.87 ERA on the mound so far this season.

Penn State is a team that has a handful of solid relief pitchers, but lack a consistent no. 1 or no. 2 starter. Their team ERA is currently 6.07, which puts them 11th out of 13 Big Ten teams. The most consistent pitchers on their staff are Steven Miller (2.55 ERA, 8 app, 17.2 IP, 19 K) and Jaden Henline (3.28 ERA, 9 apps - 1 GS, 24.2 IP, 29 K). and both are primarily used out of the 'pen for the Nittany Lions.

Last season, Penn State split a 4-game series with Northwestern, 2-2, while outscoring the 'Cats by just one run, 21-20.

The 'Cats Continue to Rise

After starting the season 2-10, Northwestern has completely reversed their fortunes, going 10-2 over an equal stretch of games, and bringing the 'Cats back to .500 ball at 12-12. 

Key figures that have contributed to such an abrupt turnaround are equally present on the mound as they are at the plate and in the field. 

Ethan O'Donnell, Jay Beshears and Anthony Calarco all continue to rake at the plate. After hitting .333 with 10 extra-base hits in their last 8 games before conference play, O'Donnell has maintained his hot streak at the plate, going 9-19 (.474) with 1 HR, 4 2B and 6 RBI in 4 games since. Beshears, the team leader in batting average at .384, went 8-20 with 1 HR, 2 2B and 2 RBI over the same 4 game stretch. Calarco is tied for the team lead in home runs with O'Donnell (6) while also pacing the 'Cats in RBI (27).

On the mound, Sean Sullivan and Michael Farinelli have entrenched themselves as Northwestern's go-to Friday and Saturday starters, as Sullivan is the overall leader on the team in ERA (2.19), wins (4) and strikeouts (54), while Farinelli is 3-0 in his last 4 games started with a 1.79 ERA.

A welcome development lately has been the pitching of Jacob Scharm, who threw 5 shutout innings against University of Illinois - Chicago in a 13-3 victory for the 'Cats last Tuesday. If Scharm continues to pitch well, Northwestern may have found themselves a Sunday starter.

The Schedule

The three-game series will begin on Friday afternoon, with single games scheduled through the weekend:

Game 1: Friday, April 8, 4:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. CT

Game 2: Saturday, April 9, 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT

Game 3: Sunday, April 10, 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT

Projected Starting Pitchers

Game 1:

Northwestern – LHP Sean Sullivan: 7 GS, 31 IP, 2.19 ERA, 54 SO, 11 BB

Penn State – LHP Kellan Tulio: 6 GS (7 APP), 17.2 IP, 4.58 ERA, 17 K, 9 BB

Game 2:

Northwestern – RHP Michael Farinelli: 6 GS (7 APP), 33.1 IP, 3.54 ERA, 35 SO, 14 BB

Penn State – RHP Tommy Molsky: 7 GS (8 APP), 28.0 IP, 5.79 ERA, 29 K, 13 BB

Game 3:

Northwestern – 

RHP Jacob Scharm: 1 GS (5 APP), 12.0 IP, 6.00 ERA, 6 K, 10 BB 

or 

RHP Mike Doherty: 4 GS (5 APP), 19.0 IP, 9.47 ERA, 10 K, 9 BB

Penn State – TBD

How to Watch

Watch

'Cats Honors

Ethan O'Donnell is tied for the most doubles in D1 college baseball with 17, but has played the fewest number of games between the players he is tied with.

D1 double leaders through games played on April 5th pic.twitter.com/tdaB6layU7

— College Baseball Hub (@CollegeBSBHub) April 6, 2022

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