Penn State baseball (23-14) was blown out by No. 18 West Virginia (30-11) 14-2 during Tuesday night’s midweek matchup at Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark.

Two grand slams by the Mountaineers and a lack of offense from the Nittany Lions was the story of the contest as Penn State’s four-game win streak was snapped in Morgantown.

How It Happened

The Nittany Lions threatened the Mountaineers in the top of the second after a Josh Spiegel walk and pass ball put him on second base with one out. A strikeout of Billy Gerlott and a groundout by Tayven Kelley ended the inning for Penn State.

In the bottom of the third inning, West Virginia struck first. Back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases for the Mountaineers and JJ Wetherholt smoked a grand slam down the right-field line to make it a 4-0 game.

Penn State rallied back with a run of its own. A leadoff single by Jay Harry put an early runner on base and Grant Norris brought him home with a double over the right fielder’s head. Norris nearly scored after an error by the West Virginia left-fielder, but was tagged out at home and kept the score 4-1.

The bottom of the fourth is when things went from bad to worse for Penn State. Ryan Partridge was on the mound in relief for Tommy Molsky, and gave up back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases for Wetherholt once again. This time Wetherholt only hit a sac fly to score one.

Partridge was then pulled for Connor Throneberry. Throneberry walked the first batter he faced and then let up a single up the middle that scored two. A hit by pitch loaded the bases yet again and another single by the Mountaineers brought home another run.

Grant Hussey stepped into the box and continued the rally for West Virginia. He fired a ball deep over the center field wall for another grand slam to make the game 12-1.

West Virginia added another run in the fifth. Wetherholt smoked a two-out triple to right field and Landon Wallace brought him home with a single.

Down 13-1, Bobby Marsh released a ball deep over the left-field wall for an opposite-field solo home run. However, West Virginia retaliated with a solo home run of its own by Logan Sauve to bring the lead back to 12 in the sixth inning.

Both teams went scoreless for the next handful of innings and Penn State went down swinging in the ninth, falling 14-2.

Takeaways:

• Penn State’s pitching was lacking to say the least. Multiple walks and singles led to multiple grand slams, which buried the Nittany Lions in a hole that was too deep to dig themselves out of.
• While the pitching staff had major issues, the offense didn’t look much better. Totaling only three hits all night Penn State just flat-out didn’t look like the same team it usually does when it comes to hitting.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will return home to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park to begin a three-game series against Iowa. The first game of the series will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 28.