Penn State baseball looks to extend win streak against Indiana

For the first time this season, the Penn State Nittany Lions are on a four-game win streak. Coming off a series sweep against Northwestern and a mercy-rule blowout against Fairleigh Dickinson, Penn State looks to extend its streak in Bloomington.

Penn State is 17-12, with a 4-5 conference record. Indiana has done slightly better in the Big Ten, sporting a 3-3 conference record to go along with their 18-15 overall record.

Both the Hoosiers and the Nittany Lions have had strong offense and poor pitching so far this season.

The blue and white sport a Big Ten-leading .914 team OPS, while Indiana’s .892 team OPS is third in the conference. Penn State’s 6.42 ERA is 10th among Big Ten teams, and Indiana’s 6.68 ERA is only better than Northwestern’s.

Both teams are coming into this weekend with momentum, as Indiana took two out of three in College Park against Maryland and Penn State swept Northwestern.

Adam Cecere has emerged as a premier hitter in the Big Ten, rocking a conference-leading 1.211 OPS and nine home runs. The graduate transfer from Wake Forest currently has a seven-game on-base streak as well.

J.T. Marr recently had a three-extra-base-hit game against FDU, his first of the season. His batting average has stayed above .400 for all 39 games this year.

Indiana outfielder Devin Taylor will be a problem for the Nittany Lions all series long, as he leads Indiana in both batting average at .359 and home runs at seven.

Shortstop Tyler Cerny has been the other star hitter for the Hoosiers, clubbing six home runs to go along with his team-leading .573 slugging percentage. Cerny’s 143 at bats so far this season is the most in the Big Ten.

Even though the Hoosiers and the Nittany Lions have poor pitching numbers on the season, both teams have pitched very well recently in conference play.

The Nittany Lions and the Hoosiers allowed 12 total runs in their most recent series against Northwestern and Maryland respectively, and look to continue their strong pitching against each other.

Travis Luensmann vs. Ty Bothwell is the likely pitching matchup for the first game of the series, and the two have had extremely similar seasons. Luensmann has pitched a team-leading 37 innings constituting a 4.86 ERA. Bothwell has pitched 40.2 innings to a marginally worse 4.87 ERA.

Jaden Henline and Connor Foley are in line for the second game of the series. Henline is looking to continue his strong pitching, having allowed just eight runs in his last 16 innings of work.

Foley has been one of the best starters in all of the Big Ten this season. He is fifth in the conference with a 3.21 ERA, and second with 64 strikeouts.

In the third game, we can expect to see Frankie Sanchez for the Nittany Lions, who will look to build off the six-inning performance he had last week against Northwestern.

Overall, Penn State matches up very well against Indiana. Let's see how long they can keep this winning streak up for.

Will Harrison is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email wbh5205@psu.edu