Penn State baseball (24-19, 6-11 Big Ten) was overwhelmed by Omaha (19-22, 7-11 Summit League) 16-3 Wednesday night.

After being swept by Rutgers over the weekend, the loss Wednesday night extended the Nittany Lion’s losing streak to four games. The Nittany Lions allowed four home runs in the game, including three three-run home runs.

How It Happened

Right away, the Nittany Lions came to play and did so by putting up a run in the top of the first inning. Thomas Bramley led off the game with a single and, after advancing to second base on a passed ball, he scored thanks to a two-out single by Bobby Marsh to give Penn State an early 1-0 lead.

Daniel Ouderkirk was on the mound and coming off his shortest start of the season against Rutgers. A leadoff single, a walk, and a hit by a pitch by Ouderkirk loaded the bases for Omaha to start the game and the Mavericks took the lead by way of a single by Brennen Bales who scored two.

Ouderkirk walked another batter to load the bases again and was pulled after recording no outs. Connor Throneberry came in and allowed a single and a fielder choice and let Omaha score two more runs to make it 4-1 through the first inning.

Omaha added another run in the second inning, this time with the long ball. Devin Hurdle smoked a solo home run to left field to extend the lead to four.

In the third inning, a lead-off triple and walk by Ben DeMell put runners on the corners, and Eduardo Rosario hit a double to right to add another run for the Mavericks. Zach Lechnir stepped in and broke the game open with a three-run bomb to left to make it 9-1.

The Mavericks added another run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly after getting runners on the corners thanks to a couple of walks and stolen bases. In the fifth inning, the onslaught began. After a ground-rule double and walk put two runners on base, Cam Frederick took one for a run deep into left field for the third Omaha home run of the night.

After walking two more batters, Omaha continued the damage and hit its second three-run home run of the innings to make it 16-1.

Penn State added two runs in the seventh inning. Pinch hitter C.J. Pittaro led off the seventh inning with a double and scored after Derek Cease hit a double of his own. The next batter was Jake Cooper, who drove Cease in with a single to make it 16-3, however, the run rule was in effect and the game ended after seven innings.

Takeaways:

• Penn State is in the midst of a four-game losing streak, its longest streak of the season. Both the offense and pitching have been poor as the Nittany Lions have scored only six runs and have given up 42 runs in the four previous games.
• This was an unfortunate performance from the Nittany Lions. The pitching staff looked far from productive throughout the entire game and gave up multiple home runs in the blowout. Daniel Ouderkirk started the game but couldn’t record an out and was pulled after only 17 pitches and allowed four runs.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will remain in Nebraska for the weekend and travel south to Lincoln to take on Nebraska in a three-game series. First pitch in the opening game is set for 7:05 p.m. on Friday, May 12. Folks can stream the game in BTN+.