STATE COLLEGE \u2014 Bryce Molinaro still remembers his 100th career win \u2014 in wrestling.<\/p>\n
A moment nearly four years ago \u2013 long before he became one of the most accomplished baseball players in Penn State history \u2013 is still etched in Molinaro\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
Molinaro recalls jumping off the mat after a victorious match in the semifinals of the first tournament of his senior season at Hazleton Area High School and into the arms of his dad Tom Molinaro, who helped mold Bryce into a three-time district champion as his coach.<\/p>\n
Bryce remembered grappling with three of the top five ranked wrestlers at 189-pounds en route to his milestone win and said it acted as a catalyst for an accomplished final season on the mat. Molinaro went 131-34 during his four seasons and went 97-20 over the final three years with a trio of top-10 regional tournament finishes in that span.<\/p>\n
Bryce\u2019s success on the mat has translated to Penn State and said his tenure as a wrestler has molded his mentality which consists of an unrelenting approach at the plate and an unwavering trust in his work ethic, both forged during his formative days in the Valley East Little League and fire-hardened through his time as a star baseball player for the Cougars.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wrestler mindset, that person stepping across the mat from you knowing they could beat you, trusting their work they put in to beat you and in the back of my head I\u2019m like, that guy is not beating me,\u201d Molinaro said. \u201cI\u2019m way stronger, way tougher, way more mentally tough than him and I just kind of have been that out in the field too like this kid\u2019s not going to get me out. I\u2019m going to do what I need to do. I\u2019m gonna get my job done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryce\u2019s \u2018wrestler mindset\u2019 came into action during his most signature moment in his Penn State career. With the Nittany Lions trailing 5-3 in the eighth inning to Michigan in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, Bryce strode to the plate with Tom\u2019s voice acting as the soundtrack in his ears.<\/p>\n
It was a message Tom told Bryce throughout their time together aside the mat in high school. \u201cBreathe through the high intensity pressure\u201d was the mantra and Bryce followed his father\u2019s words, blasting an 1-0 pitch over the left center field wall at historic Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska for a go-ahead grand slam.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe pushed me to my limits,\u201d Bryce said of his dad. \u201cHe made me a better person on and off the mat, a better wrestler and he had a good wrestling background so he knew what he was talking about. I trusted him a lot with that and during the matches, he just let me go out there and let it fly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryce said he misses the adrenaline rush and the deeply pitted butterflies when stepping onto the mat and said winning district titles 10 minutes from his home are moments he\u2019ll remember forever. \u201cI\u2019ve watched some old videos of myself wrestling and I\u2019m like, \u2018wow, kind of miss it looking back at it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryce has made it a regular winter routine to watch the incomparable Penn State wrestling team at Rec Hall and said it acts as an inspiration and a reminder that he belongs in Happy Valley, even through the rough patches in a mentally daunting game of baseball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just remind myself that I\u2019m here for a reason,\u201d Molinaro, a two-time Standard-Speaker Male Athlete of the Year, said. \u201cI had ups and downs in wrestling too and I just kept reminding myself that I\u2019m in this position for a reason, just trusting the work that I\u2019ve been putting in. Baseball is definitely an interesting game. One day you could feel like you\u2019re on top of the world and the next day you could feel like you just lost that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryce has become one of the most formidable power hitters in the entire nation and is the first Nittany Lion with 10 or more home runs in a season since 2011. Bryce said his confidence has grown immensely since starting his freshman season in 2023 at St. John\u2019s \u2013 a season he didn\u2019t play in any games.<\/p>\n
Bryce followed a Third Team All-Big Ten campaign in 2024 with another dominant season in 2025, totaling 11 home runs and 52 RBIs. The third baseman has thrust himself into palpable conversation as a highly-touted prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft in July with his gap-to-gap power and smooth right-handed swing.<\/p>\n
The Drums product entered the season ranked as the 143rd overall college prospect by D1Baseball.com and currently sits 380th in the Baseball America top-400. Despite the external accolades, Bryce said his conversations with second year head coach Mike Gambino have relaxed the inherent pressure that coincides with being an elite prospect.<\/p>\n
Those talks between Bryce and Gambino have been about being present and focusing on making another run in the Big Ten Tournament where Penn State fell in the championship game to Nebraska in 2024. Bryce said the idea of being drafted doesn\u2019t creep into his mind and recognized that he doesn\u2019t let the draft looming in two months alter how he plays.<\/p>\n
However, Bryce knows that one phone call could change his life forever and said it\u2019s been an incredible journey from the mat to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park where he\u2019s built a legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would mean the world,\u201d Molinaro said. \u201cIt\u2019s the thing I\u2019ve been doing since I was a kid and it\u2019s been what I\u2019ve been working for. It\u2019s always been a dream of mine and that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to work for. Hearing my name get called in a few months would definitely be a huge stepping stone, a huge thing to cross off the bucket list. It\u2019d be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATE COLLEGE \u2014 Bryce Molinaro still remembers his 100th career win \u2014 in wrestling. A moment nearly four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2289],"tags":[5,648,3837,1694,2341,3838,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-4603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-college-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-college-baseball","10":"tag-luzerne-county","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-baseball","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114459881491708005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}