Penn State Baseball Takes Two Of Three Games Against Stanford
Penn State baseball (5-2) took two of three games against Stanford (2-5) in its first true road series of the season. It was the first time the Nittany Lions had ever faced the Cardinals, and they made quite the impact, scoring 33 runs throughout the entire weekend.
Grant Norris and Bryce Molinaro had fantastic weekends and each hit two home runs and added six and five RBIs, respectively. Adam Cecere also homered once and totaled five RBIs during the road trip.
Game One
After Penn State went scoreless in the top half of the first inning, Travis Luenssman was back on the mound for the opening game of the weekend series. Right away, Stanford got on the board plating two early runs on Luensmann.
Penn State got two early outs, one after Trevor Haskins walked and Cobb was thrown out trying to steal third. Malcolm Moore walked, Jimmy Nati smoked a single to left field, and Temo Becerra was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Luensmann then let up back-to-back walks to Jake Sapien and Charlie Saum to make it 2-0 in favor of Stanford.
The Nittany Lions failed to respond in the second inning, but in the third, they finally got some offense going. With one out, Bryce Molinaro smoked a solo home run to left-center field to make it 2-1. An inning later, after a walk from Bobby Marsh, Grant Norris drilled a home run to left field to take a 3-2 lead.
After that home run, the offense kept rolling for the Nittany Lions. In the fifth inning, Kyle Hannon led things off with a walk and back-to-back singles by Molinaro and J.T. Marr loaded the bases. Adam Cecere stepped into the box and smoked a two-run double to the wall in right-center. Two batters later, Marsh added two more runs with a single to right to make it 7-2 Penn State.
In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Luensmann got out of trouble after allowing a double from Nati but picked up a huge strikeout and a groundout to end the inning. His day was finished after the fifth, as he picked up two strikeouts and didn’t allow a run after the two in the first.
Cecere added another RBI on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, and in the seventh, after a double from Matt Maloney, and a pair of walks, Hannon smoked an RBI to right-center to make it 10-2 in favor of Penn State.
The pitching for Stanford continued to struggle in the eighth inning. Cecere was hit by a pitch and Tayven Kelly and Billy Gerlott walked to load the bases. Cardinal pitcher Ryan Speshyock then came in relief and struck out the first batter he faced in Norris, but then walked three consecutive batters to score three more Penn State runs.
Marr stepped up next and smoked a double to left-center field scoring two more runs to make it 15-2. In the bottom half of the inning, Stanford finally scored some runs. Luke Lavin and Brandon Larson started things off with back-to-back walks and Brady Reynolds singled to load the bases. Cort MacDonald brought one run home with a fielder’s choice, and Haskins reached on an error to make it 15-4. Pitcher Ben DeMell stepped up after the error, getting a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
Penn State threatened but failed to add any runs in the ninth inning, and in the bottom half, Connor Throneberry stepped on the mound to close things out. Throneberry picked up a strikeout, and two flyouts to end the game with the Nittany Lions winning a blowout 15-4.
Game Two
Jaden Henline was on the mound for Penn State at the start of the second game. Different than the previous game, the Nittany Lions struck. Cecere and Tayven Kelley were both hit by a pitch in the top of the second inning. Norris smoked his second home run of the weekend to get the Nittany Lions on the board and make it 3-0.
The Cardinals responded in their half of the second inning. Nati led off the inning with a single, and Brandon Larson smacked a two-run home run to left to make it a one-run game.
After two innings of no runs from either team, Penn State blew it open in the fifth. J.T. Marr started things off with a single up the middle, and Cecere stepped up to the plate. Cecere smoked an opposite-field two-run home run to left field to make it 5-2.
The hits kept on coming, as Kelley hit a single to right center and Bobby Marsh was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. After a wild pitch advanced both runners up a base, Norris singled to left for his fourth RBI of the game. A throwing error by Malcolm Moore allowed Marsh to score and advance Norris to second base, and Kevin Michaels singled to right to make it 8-2.
In the sixth inning, Penn State added to its lead with another home run off the bat of Molinaro, who smacked his second solo home run of the weekend to right field.
Up by seven runs, the Nittany Lions kept their foot on the gas and continued to tack on even more runs. Marsh and Norris started the seventh inning off with back-to-back singles, and Michaels was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Joe Jaconski was up next and smacked a double to right scoring two more runs. Hannon scored another run on a groundout, and Molinaro hit a sac fly to make it 13-2.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Mason Horwat was on the mound for his third inning of relief. He got two quick outs with a lineout to center and a groundout to first, but then let up a walk and a single to put two runners on. With Trevor Haskins up, Horwat got the leadoff man to fly out to center, and with both managers agreeing pregame to a 10-run rule after seven innings, Penn State won 13-2.
Game Three
In the final game of the weekend series, Penn State had Frankie Sanchez on the mound. The Nittany Lions started this game similar to the previous, striking first with the long bomb. Jaconski drilled a leadoff home run to right-center to make it 1-0 in favor of Penn State.
Next up stepped Kyle Hannon, who tripled down the right-field line. After a groundout by Molinaro kept Hannon at third base, Marr hit a line drive to left field, allowing Hannon to tag up and score.
An inning later, after a single by Matt Maloney and back-to-back walks by Norris and Jaconski, Hannon laid down a beautiful bunt single to score another run.
However, after the top of the second inning, things finally didn’t go the Nittany Lions’ way. Stanford tied the game in the bottom half of the second inning after Lavin walked and Temo Becerra singled to put two runners on. Brady Reynolds then smacked a game-tying three-run home run to right center.
In the third, the Cardinals added to their lead. Two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for Becerra, who traded a run for an out on a fielder’s choice making it 4-3. Two more walks loaded the bases and forced in another run, and Owen Cobb stepped up to the plate and smoked a grand slam to left field to make it 9-3 Stanford.
Penn State got another run back in the sixth inning. Marr singled to start the inning off and advanced to second after Cecere was hit by a pitch. A groundout moved the runners over, and Maloney flew a ball out to left for a sacrifice fly. In the next inning, after back-to-back walks, Molinaro singled in another run to make it 9-5 for the Cardinals.
After that run, the Nittany Lions offense went cold. They threatened in the eighth inning with the bases loaded with two outs but failed to score any runs. In the ninth inning, they got two runners on, but once again, couldn’t score and were defeated 9-5.
Takeaways
- The Nittany Lions won their first true road series of the year. In a trip to the West Coast, Mike Gambino’s squad is coming home with two huge wins against a typical Pac-12 powerhouse.
- The offense was the large factor of the weekend as Penn State dropped 33 runs during the entire series. It hit six total home runs, 31 hits, and 28 walks
- Grant Norris homered twice in his impressive weekend on the road. Norris totaled six RBIs and smoked two home runs to help lead the charge. He has also been great in the field. Since moving from third base to shortstop, he has made only one error and converted four double plays.
- Another fantastic offensive performer was from the bat of Bryce Molinaro. Molinaro also hit two dingers during the series, totaling five RBIs and five hits.
What’s Next?
The Nittany Lions will travel to Davidson, North Carolina, for a four-game series against the Davidson Wildcats. That series kicks off on Friday, March 1, with the first pitch of that game set for 5 p.m.
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