Penn State baseball (16-6 overall, 5-3 Big Ten) outpaced Michigan State (15-7 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) in a 11-5 win on Saturday afternoon at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

The Nittany Lions found themselves trailing 5-1 midway through the ballgame, but back-to-back, explosive trips to the plate in the fifth and sixth innings scored four runs each, fueling a big-time comeback effort that tied the series up for Penn State.

How It Happened

Mason Horwat took the mound for Penn State and retired the first three Spartan batters he faced to start the ballgame.

Cohl Mercado swung at the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning but grounded out to third. Weingartner and Kling put the ball in play, but couldn’t safely reach the bag, bringing the first inning to a close.

To start the second inning, Sam Busch knocked a leadoff double down the right-field line for Michigan State. Will Shannon hit a hard ground ball to second, but Joe Jaconski corralled it with a diving grab and got it to first for an out. Busch advanced to third on the play.

Randy Seymour reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Busch, who was safe at the plate after Matt Maloney dropped the throw home. The Nittany Lion defense quickly stopped the bleeding, securing a flyout and groundout to end the inning trailing 1-0.

Bryce Molinaro grounded out to first to lead off the second inning for the Nittany Lions. Jaconski became the first baserunner of the game for Penn State after drawing a full-count walk, but that was shortly lived as Jack Porter sent a grounder right up the middle for an easy double play for the Spartan defense.

Horwat quickly forced two groundouts to begin the third, but Ryan McKay cranked a line drive up the middle and into the outfield for a single. Caleb Berry sent a hot grounder toward the second base umpire, but Jaconski made a nice play despite the obstructed view and secured the third out of the inning for Penn State.

Cole Wagner grounded out on the first pitch he saw. Maloney followed that up with another ground out to shortstop. With two outs, Jesse Jaconski tattooed a ball over the centerfield fence to tie the ballgame up at 1-1. Mercado then grounded out to third to end the inning.

Horwat had Busch on the edge with a 1-2 count but threw him three straight balls to send him to first base to start the fourth. Shannon singled through the right side of the infield, pushing runners to first and second. Seymour dropped a sacrifice bunt down, getting thrown out at first but advancing both runners into scoring position. Mercado secured a flyout in right field, but an errant throw to third made its way out of the ballpark, scoring both baserunners to extend Michigan State’s lead to 3-1. Jake Dresselhouse singled through the right side, but a fielder’s choice on the next at-bat put him out at second, ending the inning for the Spartans.

Trailing 3-1, Penn State’s bats were silent in the bottom of the fourth, going three up, three down.

Michigan State’s offense continued to heat up as the day went on. Sokolove singled to center and McKay drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. Berry slapped on another base hit, scoring Sokolove and pushing McKay to second. With his back against the wall, Horwat forced a much-needed double play, but a runner remained at third. Shannon scored McKay from third with a base hit to give Michigan State a 5-1 lead before Seymour lined out for the third out of the inning.

The bats awoke for Penn State as Joe Jaconski cranked a lead-off single to center. Porter followed that up with a single of his own, and Wagner drew a walk to load the bases for Maloney, who took the plate with no outs. Maloney reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Jaconski but forcing Wagner out at second.

Jesse Jaconski reached on a fielding error from Michigan State’s shortstop, scoring Maloney and advancing Porter to second. With two outs and runners on the corners, Weingartner pushed a routine single through the left side, but the ball rolled right through the legs of the left fielder, allowing Mercado and Maloney to score and tie the game up at 5-5. Kling struck out, leaving Weingartner stranded at third as the fifth inning ended.

Nick Williams drew a leadoff walk but was out at second after a fielder’s choice replaced him with Dresselhouse at first base. Dayton Murphy grounded into a double play to wrap up a short trip to the plate for Michigan State.

Molinaro couldn’t beat the throw from third to first, grounding out to start the bottom of the sixth. Joe Jaconski drew a full-count walk, with Porter joining him on base after being plunked. A balk pushed runners to second and third before Wagner went down swinging for the second out of the inning. Nate Voss drew a walk to load the bases before Jesse Jaconski crushed a grand slam, his second homer of the game, to give Penn State a commanding 9-5 lead. The Nittany Lions weren’t done yet as Mercado kept a line drive fair, sending the ball deep in the right-field corner. Mercado slid safely into third but was stranded on base as Weingartner flew out to center field to close the dominant inning.

Anthony Steele relieved Horwat of his duties at the top of the seventh inning and went straight to work. He struck out Sokolove swinging and then forced a groundout and flyout to quickly end the inning.

Kling singled to left field and then stole second base shortly after. Molinaro grounded out for the third time on the day but advanced Kling to third. Joe Jaconski popped out to center but pushed it deep enough for Kling to tag up and make it safely to home plate to tack on some extra security runs for the Nittany Lions, who led 10-5.

With time, and now the weather working against them, Busch flew out and Shannon struck out. Seymour drew a walk, but it was to no avail as Mercado chased down a hard drive to rightfield from Williams to secure the third out of the inning.

Wagner went down swinging to start the bottom of the eighth, but right after, Voss tripled to left field but was replaced by a pinch runner. Jesse Jaconski logged yet another RBI, scoring the runner from third on a sacrifice fly to make it an 11-5 ballgame.

Dresselhouse grounded out to kick off Michigan’s final trip to the plate. Molinaro made a highlight play at third base, snagging a rope off the bat of Noah Bright for out number two. Steele walked Sokolove with two outs but quickly made up for it by forcing a groundout to end the ballgame.

Takeaways

• The Jaconski brothers were a major part of the winning effort on Saturday afternoon. Joe consistently made defensive plays from his second base position, finishing with seven defensive assists, but also contributing offensively with an RBI, drawing two walks and scoring two runs. His brother, Jesse Jaconski homered twice, finishing the game with six RBI’s.
• Horwat had a rough outing, allowing seven hits and recording zero strikeouts on the day. Despite having little command, he fought his way through the bumps and pitched six innings. That gritty mentality was present amongst the rest of the Nittany Lions as well, as they scored 11 unanswered runs to secure the comeback victory.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions wrap up their weekend series against Michigan State at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.