Baseball Hosts Penn State Twice to Close Out Regular Season - Naval Academy Athletics (2024)

Baseball 5/3/2024 11:05:00 AM

Navy Returns Home for Final Tune-Up Before Patriot League Semifinals

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Returning home to finish a grinding stretch run to the regular season, the Navy baseball team (25-20, 15-10 PL) is set to play a pair of games against Penn State (20-19, 7-11 B1G) this weekend at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.

Following PSU's contest against Georgetown in Annapolis on Friday, the Midshipmen and Nittany Lions are slated to play under the lights Saturday night with a 6 p.m. contest while Navy will close out its regular season on Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch against PSU. Both Navy games will air on ESPN+ with Scott Wykoff handling play-by-play duties.

Probable Starters
Saturday: Navy RHP Tyler Grenn vs. PSU RHP Jaden Henline
Sunday: Navy TBA vs. PSU RHP Frankie Sanchez

Promotions at the Park
The two-game series will serve as Fan Appreciation Weekend, with promotions and giveaways on both days … The first 150 fans on Saturday will receive a Star Wars-themed poster in celebration of May the 4th (Star Wars Day) … Sunday's game features a stress taco giveaway for Cinco de Mayo with walking tacos also available at the concessions stand, while kids will be able to run the bases after the game.

Postseason Picture
While the Mids wrapped up Patriot League regular-season play last week at Army and secured a home semifinal series next weekend, Navy will learn its seeding and opponent following the final league games this week … If Army is swept in its four games this weekend, Navy will receive the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament, while one Black Knights win will lock in the Mids as the No. 2 seed … Army and Bucknell have both secured berths in the league semifinals as well, with Holy Cross, Lafayette and Lehigh all vying for the final postseason spot.

Slick Fielders
Navy has been the best team defensively in the Patriot League, as the Mids' .980 fielding percentage ranks 13th in the country entering the week … The Navy infield has been most impressive, with the team turning 39 double plays that ranks first in the league and 23rd nationally … Individually, senior outfielder Zane Raba has posted a 1.000 fielding percentage that ranks first in the Patriot League while sophom*ore first baseman Victor Izquierdo has the second-best fielding percentage (.997) and the most putouts (294) in the league … Senior shortstop Eduardo Diaz also has the best fielding percentage (.994) among Patriot League middle infielders.

"We Got Ice"
The Mids have been one of the nation's best teams at getting on base via hit-by-pitch, as Navy's 87 times being hit by a pitch sit second in the Patriot League and rank 25th in the NCAA entering the weekend … The 87 hit-by-pitches are also a program record, eclipsing the previous record of 79 in 2011 … The Mids have three players who are in the top-100 nationally in getting beaned … Sitting 72nd in the nation with 14 hit-by-pitches are Raba and sophom*ore Brock Murtha, while fellow sophom*ore Mac McCommons is 98th at 13 hit-by-pitches … Raba and Murtha are tied for third in the Patriot League, while McCommons ranks sixth in the conference … The 13 hit-by-pitches also put Murtha and Raba in a tie for third in program single-season history.

Naval Aggression
Tallying just 0.62 stolen bases per game last season (31 steals in 50 games to rank 254th nationally), Navy has been exponentially more aggressive under new head coach Chuck Ristano, as the team has stolen 78 bases in 45 games this year to rank 41st in the NCAA at 1.73 steals per game … Currently leading the Patriot League, the Mids' 78 stolen bases are fifth in program history for a single season … Pacing the league and sitting 10th in the nation with his 27 steals, Raba has the third-most ever by a Navy player in a single season and the most since John Cocca's 32 stolen bases in 2002 … Murtha's 19 stolen bases rank fourth in the league and 56th in the country.

The Best of April
After missing the final 49 games of last season and having a slow start to 2024, Izquierdo has started to become a force in the heart of the Navy lineup, as he posted a team-best .304 average during the month of April … Mashing six doubles and a home run across 16 games in April, Izquierdo knocked in 12 RBI and scored eight times while slugging .464 … Senior righty Nolan Jorgenson was nearly lights out in April, allowing four runs over 19.2 innings while appearing in relief five times and making his first collegiate start on April 14 at Holy Cross … Jorgenson posted a 3-0 record during the month of April while registering one save and having nine strikeouts to one walk.

Navy Notables
Over Navy's last 10 games, senior Anthony Fiallo has led the way offensively with a .269 batting average, including three doubles, while Jorgenson has made four appearances in that span and posted a 1.69 ERA over 16 innings … Murtha has hit .368 in non-conference games with a .544 slugging and .543 on-base percentages, tallying 19 runs scored and 17 RBI along with 12 steals … Raba has also been electric in non-conference play with a .346 average and 14 steals, scoring 23 times and driving in 17 runners … Navy is tied for fourth in the country with four complete games, and the Mids are one of five teams nationally that has had three-or-more pitchers toss a complete game this season … The Mids have gone 10-10 in non-conference contests this season, including a 6-4 mark at home.

Seniors in the Record Books
As his college career winds down, senior Logan Keller finds himself seventh in program history with 124 career RBI … For his career, Diaz sits 10th in program history with both 87 walks and 24 hit-by-pitches, while his 397 career assists rank second in the Navy record book … Raba's 25 career hit-by-pitches are tied for eighth in program history and his 40 career steals also rank eighth in Navy's records … Jorgenson is seventh in program history with 58 career appearances, with 57 of those coming in relief.

Scouting Penn State
The Nittany Lions have gone 13-8 in non-conference action compared to a 7-11 mark in Big Ten play, including a pair of wins over Army in the opening weekend of the season … Penn State is coming off a weekend series against conference foe Minnesota, as PSU took the opener, 7-3, before falling in the final two games by scores of 5-4 and 15-11 … J.T. Marr's season average sits at .411 with a team-best 67 hits and 41 RBI, with his average ranking third in the Big Ten and 16th in the country … Adam Cecere is hitting .331 with 10 doubles and 13 homers, 39 RBI and a team-best 41 runs, sitting third in slugging percentage (.708) and fourth in on-base percentage (.497) in the B1G … Travis Luensmann paces the Nittany Lions with 51.1 innings and 44 strikeouts, posting a 4.91 ERA over 10 starts … Anthony Steele (5.93 ERA in 27.1 IP) and David Lee (6.35 ERA in 22.2 IP) lead the team with 19 appearances each.

Series History
Navy holds a 35-33-1 record all-time against Penn State, including a 7-3 mark in their last 10 meetings … The last seven contests in the series have all come in Annapolis … The most recent matchup between the teams came in 2020, as Navy pulled out the 2-1 victory in 11 innings at home … The 2020 contest featured the Nittany Lions tossing a combined no-hitter, but the Mids used a Michael Coritz sacrifice fly in the sixth and a walk-off PSU throwing error in the 11th to take home the win.

Up Next
Navy will host a to-be-determined opponent in the Patriot League semifinal round next weekend.