Penn State baseball (7-1) took down a reeling VCU (2-8) on Saturday for its sixth consecutive victory. Wearing their camo jerseys on the road at the Diamond in Richmond, the Nittany Lions jumped on some early mistakes by the Rams and hit four home runs to continue their winning ways in the state of Virginia.

Behind a multi-homer game by Jesse Jaconski and a four-RBI day from Cole Wagner, Penn State scored at least 15 runs for the third consecutive game, continuing their early-season offensive explosion.

How It Happened

Just three pitches into the game, Paxton Kling grounded a ball to shortstop that looked like it was going to be a nice play by VCU’s Adrian Jimenez turned into an E6. A groundout, strikeout, and hit by pitch put men on the corners with two outs for Wagner, who drilled an RBI double for a quick 1-0 lead.

Ryan DeSanto took the mound for the Nittany Lions and struck out two in a 1-2-3 first inning.

In the second, a pair of singles by Matt Maloney and Derek Cease set the table for a big rally. With two outs, Ryan Weingartner ripped a two-run double. A walk and a hit batsmen loaded the bases for Wagner, who got his second and third RBIs on a two-run single as Penn State went up 5-0.

Three straight hits off of DeSanto in the bottom half of the inning got a pair of runs back for VCU. A hit batter, sacrifice bunt, and sacrifice fly got the Rams back to within two, 5-3, after two.

VCU’s Broden Palmer never quite settled in. After allowing five runs in the first two innings, he gave up a leadoff single to Maloney in the third before Jesse Jaconski crushed his second home run of the season to left-center field to make it 7-3.

434 feet on this blast by Jesse Jaconski #WeAre pic.twitter.com/Zb6RIid3u4

— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) March 1, 2025

DeSanto settled in to get through the third unscathed, but an error by Weingartner extended the fourth inning with two outs and led to a wild pitch, pulling VCU back to a 7-4 deficit after four innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, DeSanto was chased after an overturned double play, which kept two on with two outs and the tying run at the plate. Ben DeMell came on and fell behind 3-0.

After battling back to a full count, DeMell plunked Trent Adelman to seemingly load the bases, only for home plate umpire Mike Cerra to call Adelman out for leaning into the pitch to end the threat. Despite the offense stalling out for Penn State, DeMell rolled through the sixth, 1-2-3.

VCU freshman pitcher Cooper Campbell was on a roll entering the seventh. After cooling off the Penn State offense with seven straight retired, he got barreled up by Wagner for his fourth RBI of the day to get the lead back to four. After a strikeout and Maloney single, Jesse Jaconski lofted a ball to right-center field that just snuck out for his second home run of the day to chase Campbell and take a 10-4 lead into the seventh-inning stretch.

While it looked like this game would go the distance all night, a grand slam by Nate Voss in the eighth suddenly put the Nittany Lions up by 10 runs, looking for their fourth run-rule victory of the season. Voss has now homered in each of his last three starts, including both games this weekend.

However, the Nittany Lions had to play a full nine innings. After DeMell tossed 2.1 perfect innings of relief, Skip Shenosky coughed up a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth and struggled to find the strike zone after that. When the dust settled, VCU had taken a chunk out of the lead, making it 14-7 after eight.

In the ninth, another hit batter, a walk, and a stolen base put two in scoring position with one out. After a wild pitch scored one, Bryce Molinaro lined an RBI single to make it 16-7. Despite re-loading the bases shortly after, the Nittany Lion offense was finally put to bed, finishing with their second-highest run total of the season.

Chase Renner came on for the last three outs. After a leadoff error, he struck out one and rolled a game-ending 5-4-3 double play.

Takeaways

• This offense is fun. Penn State is averaging over 11 runs per game, has three wins by mercy rule, and is winning games by an average of almost seven runs a night (+55 run differential through eight games).
• While the red-hot Kling didn’t join in on the fun today, Penn State mashed another four home runs. In eight games this season, they have 20 home runs. Entering this weekend, only three teams had done that (all in eight or more games).
• It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, as four errors nearly got VCU back into this before the late offensive explosion. DeSanto also had his first iffy start of the season, allowing four runs (three earned) in 4.2 innings.
• This is the first time since 2019 that the baseball team has started the season 7-1.

What’s Next?

Before they come home for next Tuesday’s home opener, Penn State finishes its weekend in Virginia at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 2, against William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.