Penn State baseball is coming off another last-place finish in a season where the Nittany Lions had a 22-27 overall record and a startling 4-18 conference record. After a hot start to the season where they went 13-3, the Nittany Lions hit a wall once conference play started and went 9-24 the rest of the way.

Penn State has lost a few key players, with outfielder Jordan Bowersox graduating and starting pitchers Dante Biasi and Eric Mock being drafted. Bowersox started every game last year and led the team in on-base percentage, OPS, runs, hits, and stolen bases. Biasi and Mock were workhorses at the top of the rotation, as they were ranked one and two in innings pitched for the team.

Coach Rob Cooper and company will try to climb up the conference standings this year after going a combined 11-59 in the conference the last three years. In order to do this, the team will need all-around improvement in every facet of the game. That includes hitting, pitching, and even defense. The Nittany Lions committed the most errors per game last year in the Big Ten with 1.5.

A player to be excited about is sophomore third baseman Justin Williams. He is coming off a stellar freshman season where he was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team, hitting .262 with a team-high four home runs and a team-leading .418 slugging percentage. He will be a staple at third base and in the middle of the Nittany Lion lineup.

A bright spot for the Penn State bullpen last season was the performance of Mason Mellott. He was third in the Big Ten in ERA with 2.43 and threw for a 1.16 WHIP while totaling five saves in 21 appearances. He will be an anchor in the Nittany Lion bullpen this season.

The starting pitching staff will have to try to make up for the losses of Biasi and Mock. Juniors Bailey Dees and Conor Larkin are going to have to step up and lead the rotation. The 6’7″ Dees started 11 games last year and pitched to a 4.27 ERA while striking out 60 batters. Larkin started just five games and came out of the bullpen for the other eight games. Larkin pitched to a 3.14 ERA while striking out 56 batters in 48.2 innings pitched.

Coach Cooper may have to use freshmen in higher leverage situations than he has in the past. There are 11 freshmen on this roster, which includes three pitchers — Logan Evans, Braden Halladay, and Ryan Partridge — who may be forced into important roles with the holes at the back-end of the starting rotation. Halladay is the son of the late, great Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay.

The main area where Penn State needs improvement is hitting. The Nittany Lions scored 4.3 runs per game last year, which ranked 276th out of 299 teams in college baseball. That will require multiple players to step up and have breakout seasons. The three players that need to lead this offense are Williams, outfielder Mac Hippenhammer, and infielder Gavin Homer.

Williams, Hippenhammer, and Homer were three out of Penn State’s four best hitters last season, so they will need to lead the charge in waking the bats up this season for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State will begin its season down at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, North Carolina. The Nittany Lions’ first game will be at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 14 against Bucknell.