Penn State baseball (17-12, 4-5 Big Ten) defeated Fairleigh Dickinson (12-17, 9-6 Northeast) 12-2 on Tuesday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

Mason Butash delivered a decent start while Penn State scored four runs in the first inning and two runs in the second. The Knights eventually got on the board, but more solid offense and defense kept this one well out of reach as the Nittany Lions won 12-2 with the mercy rule implemented after Adam Cecere’s home run in the eighth inning.

How It Happened

Butash struck out two batters in an easy top of the first inning for Penn State. Bobby Marsh got the Nittany Lions on the board with a solo homer to left field, and J.T. Marr followed it up with a ground-rule double. Nicholas Feretic plunked Matt Maloney, putting runners on first and second base with two outs. Grant Norris and Bryce Molinaro capitalized with a single and double combining for three runs to give the Nittany Lions a 4-0 lead.

Butash fanned three out of the five batters faced in the top of the second inning. Joe Jaconski singled and then advanced all the way home off of a double by Marsh. Adam Cecere hit another double to score Marsh.

In the third inning, the freshman walked Joan Sosa, who advanced to third base after Justin Sierra singled. Sosa scored on a sacrifice fly, but the inning ended 6-1.

The Nittany Lions tacked another run on the board in the fourth inning. Jaconski and Marr both got on base, and the former was driven home off Cecere’s sacrifice fly.

Two Knights got on base in the fifth inning with one scoring off an RBI single. However, Penn State drove in another run to take an 8-2 lead in the bottom of the frame.

Penn State held Fairleigh-Dickinson scoreless in the sixth inning. Jaconski and Marr were both driven home by two RBI singles to extend the lead to 10-2.

After getting another run in the seventh inning, Cecere demolished a home run and sent it deep into the right field bleachers to take a 12-2 lead in the eighth inning. Since Penn State went up by 10 runs, the mercy rule was put into effect to end the game.

Takeaways

• Mason Butash had a quality start, fanning five out of the 12 hitters he faced over three innings. The freshman had a 6.20 ERA heading into the game, but he has shown signs that he’ll continue improving for the Nittany Lions.
• Offense, offense, offense. Penn State just mercy-ruled a team for the second time in two games as momentum picks up.
• Cecere was perhaps the catalyst, going three-for-four with four RBIs, a run, and a double, including the game-winning home run.

What’s Next?

Penn State travels to Indiana for a three-game series against the Hoosiers beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 12, in Bloomington, Indiana. It’ll be broadcast on BTN+.