Penn State baseball (20-13, 2-7 Big Ten) beat Youngstown State (7-29, 3-11 Horizon League) by a final score of 10-8 Tuesday night.

Strong hitting from Jay Harry and Kyle Hannon pushed the Nittany Lions over the edge coming off of a difficult series against Purdue.

How It Happened

Ben DeMell earned his fourth start of the year against Youngstown State but struggled early. DeMell allowed his first two batters to reach base, while a sacrifice fly from Padraig O’Shaughnessy sent Trey Law to home plate and Braeden O’Shaughnessy to third base. Though DeMell spent the rest of the inning looking at third base, two strikeouts held the score through the end of the inning.

Similar to Youngstown State, Penn State started with a bang on offense. Hannon walked to lead off the inning and slowly advanced around the bases. After Bobby Marsh pinged a ball to left-center field, Hannon trotted home to tie the game, moving Harry to third base. On the next batter, Josh Spiegel drew a walk to load the bases with no outs.

A sacrifice fly to left field from Johnny Piacentino allowed Harry to race home, while a hit to right field from Grant Norris helped Marsh cross the home plate threshold. The inning ended on the next batter, but Penn State held a 3-1 lead early in the game.

It didn’t take long for Youngstown State to tie the game back up. A confusing play that was ultimately chalked up as a double with an error allowed two runners to reach home, while Braeden O’Shaughnessy followed with a sacrifice fly to send Law home.

Youngstown State extended its lead on a controversial call. Thomas Bramley appeared to make an impressive catch to end the inning, but the first base umpire ruled he didn’t complete the catch and Padraig O’Shaughnessy went home on the play. Penn State head coach Rob Cooper was furious with the ruling and argued the call. Instead of winning over the umpire, Cooper was tossed from the game.

The Penguins got one more run before the end of the inning by means of a single to send Steven D’Eusanio home and hold a 6-3 lead.

After both teams were shut out on their next at-bats, Penn State worked the score back in the third inning. Youngstown State’s Kenny Misik loaded the bases with no outs and proceeded to walk Norris to send Spiegel home.

While the Penguins recorded a double play on the next batter, Bramley scored the Nittany Lions’ fifth run. Just after, a wild pitch sent Piacentino home to tie the game for Penn State before a groundout from Tyson Cooper ended the inning.

Lazy fielding allowed Youngstown State to regain the lead in the fifth inning. Connor Throneberry, who was on the mound, tried to field a grounder from Ian Francis, but the ball slipped from his glove. As Throneberry jogged away in frustration, Clay Wiesen sprinted towards home for the Penguins’ seventh run.

Youngstown State scored its eighth run in a similar fashion. Padraig O’Shaughnessy started his trip around the bases with a double but then advanced to third and home plate on wild pitches.

Penn State bounced back in the seventh inning as Harry reached home from third base off of a ground-rule double by Bramley. Piacentino followed up with a single that sent Spiegel home and tied the game before a double play ended the inning.

Penn State got its go-ahead runs in the eighth inning. A double from Marsh sent Hannon home, followed by Harry, who barely avoided the tag. Marsh advanced to third base, but the side was retired on the next batter as the Nittany Lions held a 10-8 lead.

Pitcher Anthony Steele cleaned up the bottom of the ninth inning in three batters for Penn State and sealed the hard-fought 10-8 win.

Takeaways:

• Frankly, Penn State kept Youngstown State in this game more than Youngstown State did. A slew of errors from the home team kept the Penguins alive and led to six unearned runs. Who needs earned runs anyway?
• There was no quit in Penn State Tuesday night. For as strange as this game was, the Nittany Lions seemed to put their heads down and kept plugging. Even without Rob Cooper in the dugout, Penn State chalked up a win.
• Rob Cooper just got way cooler. This isn’t his first time getting ejected, but it is his first time getting ejected in the 2023 season. It’s a good way for the head coach to demonstrate that he still has a fire under him to tick off an umpire.

What’s Next?

Penn State will remain at home for a three-game Big Ten series against Ohio State beginning on Friday. The first game of the matchup will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 21, at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Folks can stream the game on BTN+.