After an outstanding summer in the Coastal Plains League, Mike is poised for a breakout year in 2008 and he will have every opportunity to be a significant contributor this year. With the graduation of Craig Clark leaving no returning left-handers in the starting rotation, Mike will likely have an opportunity to start the season in the starting rotation after serving exclusively as a reliever last year. Even if he does not end up being in the rotation, he will then be likely the top lefty out of the bullpen after being a solid and reliable southpaw out of the bullpen last year. One of four players on the Penn State squad that has been previously drafted in his career, Lorentson could bolster his draft possibilities with a good season.

Summer 2007: Pitched for the Petersburg Generals of the Coastal Plains League, where he was teammates with Cory Wine and Seth Whitehill....Compiled a 3-4 record with a tiny 1.99 ERA in 54.1 innings of work....Appeared in 12 games, starting seven and also had one save....Allowed just 12 earned runs (21 total), 37 hits and struck out 44....Held opposing hitters to a .198 average....Was fourth on the team in appearances and tied for second in starts and also had the third-most innings.

"Loro will be a key factor in any success our team has this season. Mike played a big part last year in relief and was able to gain some important experience that will help him this season. He had a very good summer in the Coastal Plains League and is slated to be the lefty in our starting rotation. Mike is reliable player and definitely has the potential to have a major impact this year." From the Coaches' Suite

2007 (Sophomore): Developed into a reliable left-handed reliever out of the bullpen as the season progressed in his first season back from injury....Was third among Penn State relievers with three wins out of the bullpen....Had a low 2.16 ERA and a 3-0 record in seven appearances in Big Ten play, allowing just two runs and five hits while limiting opposing Big Ten hitters to a .185 batting average....Did not allow any earned runs in five of his seven Big Ten appearances....Tied for fourth on the team in apearances with Gary Amato behind only Drew O'Neil, Matt Ogrodnik and Paul Hawkins....Was the second-most used lefty out of the bullpen behind Ogrodnik.
Game-by-Game Highlights: Pitched a scoreless and hitless inning of relief at Kansas (3-13)....Threw 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit in the first game of the Oral Roberts series (3-15)....Worked two innings, facing the minimum as the game went into extra innings but then gave up a two-out home run that won the middle game of the series for Oral Roberts in the 11th inning (3-16)....Rebounded from that by pitching 3.2 innings in relief of Mark Wyner and scattering six hits while not allowing any runs vs. Central Connecticut (3-25)....Pitching in his first game in 11 days, he recorded a strikeout looking in the first game of the Michigan State series (4-14) in relief of Seth Whitehill to strand the tying run at second in a game the Nittany Lions would go on to win....PIcked up the first win of his Penn State career in the third game of the MSU series as he threw 1.2 scoreless innings, facing just five batters while striking out one as Penn State rallied from a three-run deficit to win the game with four runs in the top of the seventh....Earned his second win of the year by tossing a scoreless inning with a strikeout vs. Purdue (5-6)....Picked up another win for the second straight weekend to improve to 3-1 by pitching a career-high four shutout innings in the series finale at Michigan (5-13), allowing just one hit and one walk and retiring 11 of the 13 batters he faced....Threw two-thirds of a scoreless inning, allowing one hit in a win over Ohio State (5-19)....Tossed 2.1 innings of relief, allowing three hits and one run in the Big Ten Tournament vs. Ohio State (5-23).

2006 (Redshirt): Sat out the season with an injury that he sustained prior to coming to Penn State and took a redshirt.

Cochise College (Freshman): Played on a team that finished the season 45-16 and advanced to the regional championship....Went 5-0 in 49.2 innings of work as Cochise was ranked as high as third in the country.

Malvern Prep: First All-Inter Ac team, first team All-Main Line, third team All-City junior year; Second team All-Inter Ac team, First team All-Main Line, third team All-City senior year; Earned two varsity letters; Played in the Carpenter Cup; Also played basketball and football; Was drafted in the 38th round of the MLB Amateur Draft by the San Diego Padres.

Background: Michael Robert Lorentson was born on January 25, 1986 in Philadelphia, Pa.; Parents are Gary and Theresa; Brothers John (20), Dan (16) and sister Meghan (15). Michael is majoring in agricultural business management.