Penn State baseball (13-3, 3-1 Big Ten) rolled to a 11-2 victory over Northwestern (7-9, 0-1 Big Ten) on Friday afternoon in its first game of a three-game series in Evanston, Ilinois.

After a slow start through the first three innings, the Nittany Lions’ offense got going in the fourth inning by scoring two runs and they never looked back after that. Their high-powered offense along with a great display from Penn State’s pitcher Ryan DeSanto allowed them to control the rest of the game.

How It Happened

Penn State’s first two hitters were retired, but Paxton Kling singled to left field to prevent Northwestern from retiring all three batters in order. However, the top of the first inning came to an end right after as Bryce Molinaro grounded out. In the bottom half of the opening frame, Ryan DeSanto retired the Wildcats in order.

Joe Jaconski led off the second inning and hit a double. After Northwestern’s pitcher Crawford Wade struck out Jack Porter, Jaconski stole third base on a wild pitch. Cole Wagner drew a walk after being hit by a pitch before Nate Voss hit a bunt single but could not drive Jaconski in. This led to the bases being loaded with one out. However, the Nittany Lions didn’t capitalize as the Wildcats managed to end the top frame with a double play. This scoreless trend continued in the bottom of the inning as DeSanto retired Northwestern’s batters.

After Cohl Mercado grounded out, Ryan Weingartner got on base with a single. The Nittany Lions continued to struggle to capitalize with runners on base as Wade retired Kling and Molinaro to end the top frame. DeSanto continued to exert his dominance on the mound as he retired the Wildcats 1-2-3 to keep the game scoreless after three innings.

In the fourth inning, Penn State finally broke through as Jaconski hit a solo home run to left field to give it a 1-0 lead. This gave it a lot of momentum as Porter and Voss got on first and second base. Then, Jesse Jaconski got hit by a pitch to give the Nittany Lions bases loaded with one out.

Home Run!!! Joe Jaconski blasts his 3rd homer of the year!

T4 | PSU 1, NW 0#WeAre pic.twitter.com/t6nDq4Gg4R

— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) March 14, 2025

Mercado hit a ground ball to Northwestern’s shortstop Ryan Kuckerak, and he managed to get Jesse Jaconski out at second base, but could not get the double play as Mercado reached on fielder’s choice. This gave the Nittany Lions their second run of the game before Weingartner’s flyout ended the top of the inning.

After the Wildcats were hitless through 3.1 innings, they finally managed to get their first hit of the game on a single by Jackson Freeman. However, DeSanto managed to get out of the inning unscathed as Kucherak grounded into a double play as the fourth inning came to an end with Penn State holding a 2-0 lead.

Penn State started to seize its momentum, and the fifth inning got underway with Kling hitting a solo homer to extend its lead to three. After Joe Jaconski drew a walk, Penn State’s bats stayed hot as Porter blasted a two-run home run to give it a 5-0 lead. However, the Nittany Lions continued to put their foot on the gas as they drove in another run to increase their lead to six. This forced the Wildcats to go to their bullpen to minimize more damage with one out left. They managed to do that as Jesse Jaconski was picked off at home base.

Jack Porter gets ALL of this one! He crushes a two-run shot for his 3rd HR of the year!

T5 | PSU 5, NW 0#WeAre pic.twitter.com/NRhxHB550j

— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) March 14, 2025

DeSanto continued to cruise through this game as he retired the Wildcats in order to end the fifth inning. The Nittany Lions came up scoreless in the top of the sixth and DeSanto’s day came to an end as he was relieved by Anthony Steele. However, things started to get tricky for Penn State as Northwestern had bases loaded with one out. Steele managed to get out of the inning unscathed as he managed to get the last two outs.

The Nittany Lions scored another run as Mercado singled up the middle to bring Voss home to make it 7-0. This led the Wildcats to bring in another reliever with two runners on base with two outs. Weingartner drew in a walk to get the bases loaded. Then, Kling hit a two-run single to extend Penn State’s lead to nine before Molinaro flew out to end the top of the inning.

After a stressful sixth inning, Steele had a stress-free seventh inning as he retired the Wildcats 1-2-3. Then, in the eighth inning, the Nittany Lions scored two more runs as Jesse Jaconski tripled to left field to get Derek Cease and Wagner to score. This gave them a double-digit lead as the top of the eighth inning came to an end.

Northwestern finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning when Owen McElfatrick hit a double to bring Jack Lausch home. Freeman grounded out to second base to bring in another run before the inning ended with Penn State leading 11-2.

The Wildcats retired all of Penn State’s batters in order before Connor Throneberry came in to end the ninth inning as the Nittany Lions won the first game of the series by a score of 11-2.

Takeaways

• After being scoreless through three innings, Penn State’s offense got hot at the right time as it scored six runs combined in the fourth and fifth innings. This proved to be a pivotal point in the game as it allowed Penn State to dictate the rest of the game, bring in more runs as the game went on, and put Northwestern in a huge hole.
• DeSanto came up huge for the Nittany Lions. In five innings pitched, he only allowed one hit and had five strikeouts. The bullpen followed that up by only letting two runs, which was their least number of runs allowed since February 22 when they shoutout Longwood.
• Kling continues to dominate as he went three-for-six with three RBI, including a solo homer. He has a batting average of .344 with eight home runs and 25 RBI who has been instrumental in Penn State’s hot start to the season.

What’s Next?

Penn State will look to clinch the series win against Northwestern at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 15.