STATE COLLEGE — Bryce Molinaro still remembers his 100th career win — in wrestling.
A moment nearly four years ago – long before he became one of the most accomplished baseball players in Penn State history – is still etched in Molinaro’s mind.
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.
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.
Bryce’s 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.
“My 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’m like, that guy is not beating me,” Molinaro said. “I’m 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’s not going to get me out. I’m going to do what I need to do. I’m gonna get my job done.”
Bryce’s ‘wrestler mindset’ 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’s voice acting as the soundtrack in his ears.
It was a message Tom told Bryce throughout their time together aside the mat in high school. “Breathe through the high intensity pressure” was the mantra and Bryce followed his father’s 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.
“He pushed me to my limits,” Bryce said of his dad. “He 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.”
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’ll remember forever. “I’ve watched some old videos of myself wrestling and I’m like, ‘wow, kind of miss it looking back at it.’”
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.
“I just remind myself that I’m here for a reason,” Molinaro, a two-time Standard-Speaker Male Athlete of the Year, said. “I had ups and downs in wrestling too and I just kept reminding myself that I’m in this position for a reason, just trusting the work that I’ve been putting in. Baseball is definitely an interesting game. One day you could feel like you’re on top of the world and the next day you could feel like you just lost that.”
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’s – a season he didn’t play in any games.
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.
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.
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’t creep into his mind and recognized that he doesn’t let the draft looming in two months alter how he plays.
However, Bryce knows that one phone call could change his life forever and said it’s been an incredible journey from the mat to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park where he’s built a legacy.
“It would mean the world,” Molinaro said. “It’s the thing I’ve been doing since I was a kid and it’s been what I’ve been working for. It’s always been a dream of mine and that’s what I’m 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’d be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for sure.”
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