Former LSU outfielder Paxton Kling transfers to Penn State

After sprinting to the Big Ten baseball championship game this spring, Penn State is now making some moves in the NCAA transfer portal. The Nittany Lions received a commitment from Paxton Kling, who won a College World Series title at LSU and was one of the program’s highest-rated recruits.

Kling announced his decision to transfer to Penn State in a social media post titled “Coming home.” Kling, who graduated from Central High School near Altoona, played two seasons at LSU, the first of which ended with the Tigers winning the 2023 College World Series.

In 2023, Kling played in 53 games and started 22 as a true freshman for the Tigers, who went 43-23 in the regular season and defeated Florida in the best-of-three championship series for the College World Series title. Kling batted .289 with five doubles, four home runs and nine RBIs in 2023, starting 21 games in right field and one in left field. During an exceptional seven-game series in March, Kling batted .652 with three home runs and six RBIs. He played in 10 games during the NCAA Baseball Tournament and in three games of the College World Series.

Kling played 61 games for LSU last season, 39 of them in the starting lineup. He batted .222 with a .409 on-base percentage. According to SI’s LSU Country website, which covers LSU athletics, Kling was the No. 6 Perfect Games prospect nationally and one of LSU’s highest-ranked recruits in the baseball program’s history. His return to Pennsylvania gives second-year coach Mike Gambino a strong defensive outfielder, a potentially solid leadoff hitter and postseason experience.

In his first season as Penn State’s head coach, Gambino led the team to its first Big Ten title game since 2000. The Nittany Lions won three games in Omaha, defeating top-ranked Illinois in the opening game and then winning two straight games against Michigan. Penn State defeated Michigan on a grand slam by Bryce Molinaro in the eighth inning and a home run by Adam Cecere in the 10th inning.

After losing the championship game to Nebraska, which filled Charles Schwab Field with 13,000 fans, Gambino predicted that Penn State would return for an appearance in the College World Series.

“I told the team afterward, ‘It’s going to be a big blast,'” Gambino said in Omaha. “I believe it. There’s going to be pictures on the walls, there’s going to be championships. I believe Penn State is going to come back here, not just for the Big Ten tournament, but for the main course.”

Gambino won more games than any other first-year baseball coach in Penn State history. He won the
He left his job in July 2023, about two weeks after signing a contract extension with Boston College, where he coached for 10 seasons. At Boston College, Gambino worked with athletic director Patrick Kraft, who became Penn State’s athletic director in 2022. When he brought Gambino to Penn State, Kraft promised a “huge investment” in baseball. Gambino said he saw that.

“This is going to be a story about Pat Kraft, Vinnie James (Penn State’s assistant AD for internal operations) and the Penn State athletic department investing in a sport they believe in,” Gambino said in Omaha. “People have told me before and after our job how much the fan base loves Penn State and Penn State sports, which everyone knows. But also how much they love baseball and how much they’re going to rally behind it. And I tell you, I’m blown away, and we’re just getting started as a department.”

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AllPennState is the go-to source for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Editor Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, following three coaching teams, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter at @MarkWogenrich.