It’s been a season of growth for Penn State baseball, and catcher Matt Wood has been one of the main reasons why.
Penn State qualified for the Big Ten tournament for the first time since 2012, and Wood, one of the Big Ten’s best players, finished the regular season with the league’s highest batting average at .395.
Along with winning the Big Ten’s batting crown, Wood—a 2019 graduate of Pine-Richland High School in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania— finished the regular season second in the conference in OPS (1.175), fifth in slugging percentage (1.175) and ninth in hits (73).
The 2022 Big Ten Batting Average champion @Mattwood_59!!!#WeAre pic.twitter.com/Vx3bJL6srP
— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) May 22, 2022
Wood has been a regular starter for Penn State since his freshman year. After the 2020 season was cut short due to COVID-19, Wood blossomed as a sophomore and made second-team All-Big Ten.
Wood has taken his game to another level as a junior and is the heart and soul of a promising Penn State team. Penn State, the sixth-seed in the Big Ten tournament, will take on third-seeded Iowa Wednesday at nine.
Matt Wood!!! He crushes this one to right for his 11th homer of the year!
B3 | Penn State 1, Illinois 0#WeAre pic.twitter.com/AiKcXmD7cB
— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) May 21, 2022