Penn State baseball (13-20) was able to produce only one win in its three-game road series against Iowa (21-14) this weekend.

The Nittany Lions dropped the first two games 4-2 and 5-3, respectively, before taking the final game of the series with a 5-4 win over the Hawkeyes.

Game One

Junior pitcher Bailey Dees took the mound in game one for the Nittany Lions against Iowa’s Trenton Wallace.

The Nittany Lions started the game on a positive note when freshman catcher Matt Wood drove in a run to give Penn State a 1-0 lead after the top of the first inning. Unfortunately, the team was not able to get much going after giving up two runs in each of the first two innings.

The Hawkeyes took the lead right from Penn State after starter Bailey Dees gave up back-to-back solo homers in the bottom of the first inning. It didn’t take long for Iowa to extend the lead as a single in the bottom of the second drove in two runs to make it a 4-1 ballgame.

After a jittery first two innings, Dees was able to calm himself down and toss three scoreless innings. He went five innings while allowing four runs and two hits.

The Nittany Lions showed a spark of life in the top of the sixth when redshirt freshman catcher Josh Spiegel drove in a run to cut the deficit to 4-2, but not much happened for Penn State after that. The Penn State bullpen managed to keep the Hawkeyes scoreless for the rest of the game, but the Nittany Lions couldn’t drive in any runs before falling 4-2.

Game Two

Penn State’s Connor Larkin started the first game of the doubleheader for Penn State against Iowa’s Duncan Davitt.

After a scoreless first inning from both teams, it didn’t take long for the Hawkeyes to open the door in the second. A single to right field, single to left field, and groundout into a fielder’s choice drove in three runs for the Hawkeyes to take an early 3-0 lead in the game.

Penn State then showed a slight spark of life after two scoreless innings in the fifth. Sophomore Justin Williams drove a single into left field while Jay Harry scored for the Nittany Lions to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Following a run scored in the top of the fifth, Larkin was pulled from the mound after giving up a bases-loaded opportunity to Iowa. Larkin pitched 4.2 innings while allowing three runs. Jaden Henline replaced Larkin and immediately walked in a run to give the Hawkeyes a 4-1 lead.

The Nittany Lions couldn’t respond in the sixth inning, and it led to another RBI single from the Hawkeyes in the bottom of the sixth to extend Iowa’s lead to 5-1.

Penn State’s Parker Hendershot drove in a run on an RBI single in the 8th inning to cut the deficit to 5-2, but it wasn’t enough to bring the Nittany Lions back into the game.

Game Three

After dropping the first two games in the series, Penn State was able to turn it around in game three after Penn State’s Kyle Virbitsky tossed six scoreless innings.

The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 1-0 in the top of the second when redshirt junior Cole Bartels knocked an RBI single into left field to drive in a run.

Following the score from Penn State, Virbistky retired six out of the next eight batters he faced heading into the fifth inning. Parker Hendershot then hit his second RBI single of the series to extend Penn State’s lead to 2-0 in the top of the fifth, and the Nittany Lions’ momentum didn’t stop there.

Virbitsky finished his performance with one more scoreless inning and was pulled after six innings and only allowing one hit all game. Cole Bartels then had his second RBI of the game when he hit a sacrifice fly ball out to right field to extend the lead to 3-0 in the top of the seventh inning.

The game entered a lightning delay in the top of the eighth inning while the Nittany Lions had runners on the corners with one out. Following the 29 minute delay, freshman Johnny Piacentino knocked an RBI double into center field to drive in two runs and extend Penn State’s lead to 5-0.

Iowa followed with driving in one run in the bottom of the eighth and cutting Penn State’s lead to 5-1. Iowa didn’t stop there.

Following a scoreless top of the ninth for Penn State, the Hawkeyes scored two in the bottom of the ninth inning on a balk to cut the deficit to 5-2. Soon after, Penn State’s Logan Evans walked in a run and then gave up an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-4. Tyler Shingledecker came in and forced the winning groundout to close the game as a 5-4 Penn State victory.

Takeaways

• The Nittany Lions need to get off to better starts. After allowing four runs in the first two innings in game one and three runs in the second inning of game two, Penn State wasn’t able to catch up to the Hawkeyes in either game.
• Cole Bartels and Parker Hendershot stood out for the Nittany Lions with two RBIs each in the series. Hendershot now has 15 RBIs and 22 hits on the year.
• Johnny Piacentino has continued to show promise throughout the series. The freshman notched another RBI in the third game and now has 25 RBIs on the year alongside 35 hits.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will square off in a two-game series against Minnesota for the first time this year starting Friday, May 14, in Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.