Penn State set to meet Illinois in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament

Penn State’s regular season has wrapped up and now the team is headed to Omaha for the Big Ten Tournament.

After sweeping the Maryland Terrapins on the road, the Nittany Lions have a date with the top-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini.

The Nittany Lions finished the season with a 12-12 conference record, 26-23 overall. Clinching the last spot, they will be playing as the No. 8 seed.

These two programs met back in late March for a series in Urbana-Champaign where Illinois swept the series with high-octane offense. The Fighting Illini stayed hot for the majority of the season, finishing 18-6 within the conference and 33-17 overall.

Penn State is entering the tournament with some good mojo, winning its last five of seven. The bats have heated up. J.T. Marr finished the regular season second in the conference in hits (85) and batting average (.419).

Adam Cecere, Grant Norris and Bryce Molinaro packed some power in their swings. The trio each finished with 10 or more home runs. Cecere led the group with 15 home runs and was also top 5 in the conference in slugging (.655), on-base percentage (.478), on-base plus slugging (1.133) and walks (46).

Penn State as a team was tied for the best team average with .307. The pitching, however, was struggled throughout the season, pitching a second-worst 6.86 earned-run average.

Penn State will look to dampen one of the strongest offenses in the nation.

The No. 1 seeded Fighting Illini simply mash baseballs. 103 home runs on the season as a team leads the conference. The team sits at the top of the conference in so many offensive categories, it is hard to control the lineup.

Ryan Moerman leads the Big Ten in home runs with 18 on the season. Not too far behind him sit Drake Westcott (16) and Jacob Schroeder (14).

Jack Crowder and Cooper Omans are two solid options on the mound for Illinois. Crowder gets a lot of swing-and-miss with his 70 strikeouts this season through 77.1 innings. He doesn’t let many on base either with his 1.25 WHIP.

Cooper Omans has the same WHIP over 13 games. His 4.09 ERA sits in the top 10 in the conference among pitchers, while also averaging 8.3 strikeouts per game.

Illinois had a 20-3 home record, but since this tournament will be played at a neutral site, both teams will have to rely on traveling fans to help swing the atmosphere in their favor.

Both programs have played well when in a neutral setting, with records over .500 in the category.

First pitch is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21 at 7 p.m. EST.

Anthony Desher is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email acd5698@psu.edu.