Penn State baseball (6-0) traveled to North Carolina this past weekend to take on Fairfield University (0-3) in a three-game series that included a doubleheader on Sunday and another game Monday.

Strong pitching throughout and some timely hitting led the Nittany Lions to a big early season sweep.

How It Happened

Game One

The first game of Sunday’s doubleheader took 11 innings to decide and was a defensive battle throughout. Dante Biasi took the hill for the Nittany Lions against Fairfield’s Austin Pope. Both pitchers were out there for 5.1 innings and only allowed six hits between them. Biasi had the stronger outing of the two pitchers, though, with six strikeouts and just two hits allowed.

The first run of the game wasn’t scored until the top of the sixth. Fairfield’s Anthony Boselli drove in a run with a double to left, but Penn State battled back by putting several runners on base. This eventually led to Ryan Sloniger scoring on a balk in the seventh inning.

Both offenses went back and forth and couldn’t separate from each other for several innings. Fairfield took a 4-3 lead in the eleventh on a Justin Guerrera double, which left Penn State down one entering the bottom half of the inning.

Penn State’s Curtis Robison drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at four, and Gavin Homer ended the game with a walk-off solo shot. The Nittany Lions won by a final score of 5-4 in an exciting first matchup on Sunday.

Game Two

The second half of Sunday’s doubleheader was another tight one. Starting pitcher Bailey Dees threw for six innings for the Nittany Lions. He finished with seven strikeouts and allowed just one earned run to earn his second win of the season.

Penn State’s offense exploded to score all of its runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Conlin Hughes got things going with a single up the middle that drove in two runs and eventually came around to score on a Mason Nadeau sacrifice fly. Hughes singled again in the next inning and drove Curtis Robison in for an RBI. The senior shortstop had three RBIs in the game.

Penn State held a 6-2 lead after the productive two innings. Giacomo Brancato hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning that brought Fairfield within one, but the Stags couldn’t muster up any more offense. Cole Bartels finished things up for Penn State on the mound, and the Nittany Lions won game two by a final score of 6-5.

Game Three

The Nittany Lions jumped on the board early in the final game of this series thanks to a three-run dinger from Jordan Bowersox in the first inning.

After this early score, the Nittany Lions gave the ball to righty Eric Mock and he did the rest. The redshirt junior threw for 8.2 innings, struck out six batters, and allowing just two earned runs. The Nittany Lions only had four hits on the day; their only other run came from a throwing error by Fairfield that allowed Kris Kremer to score in the eighth inning.

Kyle Virbitsky got the final out for the Nittany Lions and Penn State won by a score of 4-2. The win was Penn State’s sixth win the season, and it left North Carolina with another sweep in the bag.

Takeaways

• Penn State’s pitching staff has been dominant thus far, especially Eric Mock. Mock has a 2-0 record and has allowed just five hits in two starts. The Nittany Lions could have a strong season ahead if Mock and the rest of the staff continue to give this team chances to win.
• Despite strong pitching, Penn State will need to pick up its offensive production if it want to consistently win games in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions didn’t have a game with more than eight hits in this series and didn’t really have any specific standout hitting performances from anyone.
• Connor Klemann was productive on the base paths this series. The junior third baseman stole two bases and scored two runs over the course of the three games.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will travel to Bradenton, FL and take on Duke at 4 p.m. Friday at IMG Academy.