Northwestern University Athletics
Friday, April 27
State College, Pa.
5:30 p.m.
Northwestern
at
Penn State
Northwestern Heads to Penn State for Big Ten Series
4/26/2018 5:56:00 PM | Baseball
NORTHWESTERN NOTES
EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern baseball travels to Penn State for a three-game set against the Nittany Lions April 27-29 in University Park, Pa. All three games will be available on WNUR Sports.
The series will get underway on Friday, April 27, at 5:30 p.m. CT with game two of the series scheduled for Saturday, April 28, at 1 p.m. CT and the series finale scheduled for Sunday, April 29, at noon CT.
Northwestern (10-24, 1-14 B1G) enters the series at Penn State after claiming a 1-0 win over cross-town foe UIC on Tuesday. For the second time this season, seven Northwestern pitchers combined to throw a shutout. NU used seven arms to top Notre Dame, 2-0, on April 24. Jack Dunn drove in the game's lone run on a single in the fifth inning.
Penn State (9-25, 1-14) picked up a victory over Lafayette, 8-1, on Wednesday night in its last outing. The Nittany Lions' lone Big Ten win came in the form of a 9-3 decision at Rutgers on March 25.
Northwestern won a pair of games, 12-5, and, 7-4, last season at Penn State to take the series in the University Park. PSU pulled off a 2-1 win in the finale to hold off the sweep. Ben Dickey hit .429 (3-for-7) in the series with a pair of walks and a stolen base. Joe Hoscheit drove in a team-best six runs during the series on four hits. Hank Christie and Tyler Lass each earned wins on the mound. Christie started game two of the set and tossed 6.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits and struck out four.
As a team, Penn State is batting .219 at the dish and its pitching staff owns a 6.07 ERA. Both totals rank 13th among Big Ten teams.
A majority of PSU's offense this season has come from the quartet of Ryan Sloniger, Jordan Bowersox, Connor Klemann and Braxton Giavedoni. Sloniger leads the club with a .290 clip, .468 slugging percentage and 21 runs driven in. Bowersox has racked up a team-high 29 hits with a team-best 21 runs scored, while Klemann and Giavedoni are tied for the team lead in home runs with four. All four have 27-or-more hits this season.
Penn State will hand the ball to RHP Justin Hagenman (2-5, 4.36 ERA) in the opener. Hagenman has started 10 games this season and has thrown 53.2 innings with 50 strikeouts – tied for 12th most in the Big Ten. Hagenman faced the Wildcats in game two of the 2017 series and tossed 7.0 innings and surrendered six runs, all unearned, on five hits.
LHP Dante Basi (1-5, 7.05 ERA) will get the ball in game two on Saturday. Basi will make his 10th start of the season and comes into the game having thrown 37.0 innings with a 33-to-24 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
LHP Taylor Lehman (2-6, 5.23 ERA) will take the ball in the series finale. He has held opposing batters to a .236 clip in 41.1 innings pitched with 29 strikeouts and 27 walks.
Mason Mellott and Eric Mock each have three saves.
NORTHWESTERN STARTERS
Associate head coach/pitching coach Josh Reynolds has elected to go with the same rotation for the series. Rookie Quinn Lavelle (3-5, 4.35 ERA) will start off for Chicago's Big Ten Team before handing the ball to sophomore Hank Christie (2-4, 4.89 ERA) in game two, then the series will conclude with rookie Jack Pagliarini (1-3, 3.77ERA).
Lavelle rebounded from a rocky start in his last outing versus Michigan State last Friday. The rookie allowed five runs in the first inning, but proceeded to allow just two hits over four-scoreless innings to conclude his outing. Lavelle leads NU in innings pitched with 47.2 innings this season. He has fanned 31 batters in his nine starts. Six of his nine starts have gone 5.0 innings-or-more.
Christie will make his 26th career start on Saturday. The right-hander has allowed three-or-fewer earned runs in six of his last seven outings this season. Christie tossed 5.0 innings against Michigan State last weekend and only surrendered two hits in the 20 batters he faced, while striking out four.
Opposing batters are hitting just .232 against Christie.
The Oak Park, Illinois, native will take the mound at Lubrano Park for the second time in his career. Last season, Chritie helped the Wildcats to a series win when NU topped PSU, 7-4, in game two of the series against the Nittany Lions. He and tossed 6.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits and struck out four in the outing.
Pagliarini is set to make his eighth career start on Sunday. The rookie left-hander has struck out 52 batters this season, which ranks 10th among all Big Ten pitchers. His 31 strikeouts in Big Ten play tie him for first among all league pitchers. In his 11 appearances this season, Pagliarini has struck out at least six batters in an outing on six different occasions, matching his career-high of eight three different times.
After allowing four runs in the top of the first inning in his last outing versus Michigan State, Pagliarini proceeded to set down the next 15 batters he faced in order and finish with eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
BULLPEN
Tommy Bordignon has been Northwestern's go-to guy out of the pen this season. The senior right-hander has made 15 relief appearances. He has allowed just 19 hits and seven earned runs in 24.1 innings pitched. Bordignon has a career-high four saves this season, bringing his career total to eight. Opposing batters are hitting just .216 against him. Bordignon needs just five more strikeouts to reach 100 for his career.
Josh Levey has appeared 14 times out of the bullpen this season and owns a 22-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He has only allowed two earned runs in his last six appearances, both coming in a relief appearance against Indiana on April 13.
Richard Fordon has a pair of saves on the season. He has registered at least one strikeout in 13 of his 14 appearances. Fordon has only surrendered five extra-base hits in 25.1 innings.
BOURBON IS A BEAST
Willie Bourbon enters the series with a .276 batting average and a .491 slugging percentage. Thirteen of his 32 hits this season have gone for extra-bases, including a team-best five home runs.
Bourbon collected his 100th career hit on April 22 with a two-RBI single to the left field fence.
He has posted three consecutive games with multiple hits and ranks third on the team this season with seven. Bourbon is in the midst of a four-game hit streak.
DUNN AND DONE
Jack Dunn has been on a tear of late. The junior shortstop is in the midst of a seven-game hit streak and has raised his batting average to a team-best .307.
Dunn has a team-best 10 multi-hit games this season, which include three 3-hit games.
Leads the team and ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 15 stolen bases and is a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases against Big Ten opponents.
CLAEYS COMES UP B1G
Jack Claeys has raised his performance in his final campaign through the Big Ten. In conference games, Claeys has 15 hits and leads NU in those contests with four home runs, nine RBI and a .519 slugging percentage. Claeys and Dunn are tied for the lead on the team with four doubles in B1G games.
SWIPE YOUR BAG
Northwestern has stolen 70 bases this season/2.06 per game. The 70 stolen bases rank NU 17th nationally and the 2.06 swipes per game place Northwestern seventh in all of college baseball. Northwestern trails only Michigan State in both categories in the conference.
EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern baseball travels to Penn State for a three-game set against the Nittany Lions April 27-29 in University Park, Pa. All three games will be available on WNUR Sports.
The series will get underway on Friday, April 27, at 5:30 p.m. CT with game two of the series scheduled for Saturday, April 28, at 1 p.m. CT and the series finale scheduled for Sunday, April 29, at noon CT.
Northwestern (10-24, 1-14 B1G) enters the series at Penn State after claiming a 1-0 win over cross-town foe UIC on Tuesday. For the second time this season, seven Northwestern pitchers combined to throw a shutout. NU used seven arms to top Notre Dame, 2-0, on April 24. Jack Dunn drove in the game's lone run on a single in the fifth inning.
Penn State (9-25, 1-14) picked up a victory over Lafayette, 8-1, on Wednesday night in its last outing. The Nittany Lions' lone Big Ten win came in the form of a 9-3 decision at Rutgers on March 25.
Northwestern won a pair of games, 12-5, and, 7-4, last season at Penn State to take the series in the University Park. PSU pulled off a 2-1 win in the finale to hold off the sweep. Ben Dickey hit .429 (3-for-7) in the series with a pair of walks and a stolen base. Joe Hoscheit drove in a team-best six runs during the series on four hits. Hank Christie and Tyler Lass each earned wins on the mound. Christie started game two of the set and tossed 6.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits and struck out four.
As a team, Penn State is batting .219 at the dish and its pitching staff owns a 6.07 ERA. Both totals rank 13th among Big Ten teams.
A majority of PSU's offense this season has come from the quartet of Ryan Sloniger, Jordan Bowersox, Connor Klemann and Braxton Giavedoni. Sloniger leads the club with a .290 clip, .468 slugging percentage and 21 runs driven in. Bowersox has racked up a team-high 29 hits with a team-best 21 runs scored, while Klemann and Giavedoni are tied for the team lead in home runs with four. All four have 27-or-more hits this season.
Penn State will hand the ball to RHP Justin Hagenman (2-5, 4.36 ERA) in the opener. Hagenman has started 10 games this season and has thrown 53.2 innings with 50 strikeouts – tied for 12th most in the Big Ten. Hagenman faced the Wildcats in game two of the 2017 series and tossed 7.0 innings and surrendered six runs, all unearned, on five hits.
LHP Dante Basi (1-5, 7.05 ERA) will get the ball in game two on Saturday. Basi will make his 10th start of the season and comes into the game having thrown 37.0 innings with a 33-to-24 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
LHP Taylor Lehman (2-6, 5.23 ERA) will take the ball in the series finale. He has held opposing batters to a .236 clip in 41.1 innings pitched with 29 strikeouts and 27 walks.
Mason Mellott and Eric Mock each have three saves.
NORTHWESTERN STARTERS
Associate head coach/pitching coach Josh Reynolds has elected to go with the same rotation for the series. Rookie Quinn Lavelle (3-5, 4.35 ERA) will start off for Chicago's Big Ten Team before handing the ball to sophomore Hank Christie (2-4, 4.89 ERA) in game two, then the series will conclude with rookie Jack Pagliarini (1-3, 3.77ERA).
Lavelle rebounded from a rocky start in his last outing versus Michigan State last Friday. The rookie allowed five runs in the first inning, but proceeded to allow just two hits over four-scoreless innings to conclude his outing. Lavelle leads NU in innings pitched with 47.2 innings this season. He has fanned 31 batters in his nine starts. Six of his nine starts have gone 5.0 innings-or-more.
Christie will make his 26th career start on Saturday. The right-hander has allowed three-or-fewer earned runs in six of his last seven outings this season. Christie tossed 5.0 innings against Michigan State last weekend and only surrendered two hits in the 20 batters he faced, while striking out four.
Opposing batters are hitting just .232 against Christie.
The Oak Park, Illinois, native will take the mound at Lubrano Park for the second time in his career. Last season, Chritie helped the Wildcats to a series win when NU topped PSU, 7-4, in game two of the series against the Nittany Lions. He and tossed 6.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits and struck out four in the outing.
Pagliarini is set to make his eighth career start on Sunday. The rookie left-hander has struck out 52 batters this season, which ranks 10th among all Big Ten pitchers. His 31 strikeouts in Big Ten play tie him for first among all league pitchers. In his 11 appearances this season, Pagliarini has struck out at least six batters in an outing on six different occasions, matching his career-high of eight three different times.
After allowing four runs in the top of the first inning in his last outing versus Michigan State, Pagliarini proceeded to set down the next 15 batters he faced in order and finish with eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
BULLPEN
Tommy Bordignon has been Northwestern's go-to guy out of the pen this season. The senior right-hander has made 15 relief appearances. He has allowed just 19 hits and seven earned runs in 24.1 innings pitched. Bordignon has a career-high four saves this season, bringing his career total to eight. Opposing batters are hitting just .216 against him. Bordignon needs just five more strikeouts to reach 100 for his career.
Josh Levey has appeared 14 times out of the bullpen this season and owns a 22-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He has only allowed two earned runs in his last six appearances, both coming in a relief appearance against Indiana on April 13.
Richard Fordon has a pair of saves on the season. He has registered at least one strikeout in 13 of his 14 appearances. Fordon has only surrendered five extra-base hits in 25.1 innings.
BOURBON IS A BEAST
Willie Bourbon enters the series with a .276 batting average and a .491 slugging percentage. Thirteen of his 32 hits this season have gone for extra-bases, including a team-best five home runs.
Bourbon collected his 100th career hit on April 22 with a two-RBI single to the left field fence.
He has posted three consecutive games with multiple hits and ranks third on the team this season with seven. Bourbon is in the midst of a four-game hit streak.
DUNN AND DONE
Jack Dunn has been on a tear of late. The junior shortstop is in the midst of a seven-game hit streak and has raised his batting average to a team-best .307.
Dunn has a team-best 10 multi-hit games this season, which include three 3-hit games.
Leads the team and ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 15 stolen bases and is a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases against Big Ten opponents.
CLAEYS COMES UP B1G
Jack Claeys has raised his performance in his final campaign through the Big Ten. In conference games, Claeys has 15 hits and leads NU in those contests with four home runs, nine RBI and a .519 slugging percentage. Claeys and Dunn are tied for the lead on the team with four doubles in B1G games.
SWIPE YOUR BAG
Northwestern has stolen 70 bases this season/2.06 per game. The 70 stolen bases rank NU 17th nationally and the 2.06 swipes per game place Northwestern seventh in all of college baseball. Northwestern trails only Michigan State in both categories in the conference.
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