Penn State Baseball Dominates Bucknell 14-3 In Seven Innings
Penn State baseball (18-10, 6-6 Big Ten) dismantled Bucknell (11-16, 3-5 Patriot League) 14-3 in seven innings on Tuesday evening at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Despite giving up a run in the top of the first inning, Penn State got scoring and never looked back. The Nittany Lions’ bats were hot en route to a get-right win after dropping the weekend series to Michigan. Strong pitching also bumped Penn State to the win, as the Nittany Lions allowed no extra base hits.
How It Happened
Junior Skip Shenosky started the game on the mound for the Nittany Lions and immediately forced Bucknell’s Billy Fluharty into a ground out for the first of the game.
Shenosky struck out his next batter before walking Billy Kender and giving up a right field single to Michael Trommer. Up next was Ryan Facinelli, who attacked Shenosky’s first pitch and shot a ball to right field to score Kender in the top of the first inning.
Shenosky walked Chris Morabito to load the bases with two outs, but he got out of the jam unscathed after a ground out.
Ryan Weingartner got Penn State on base with a walk in the bottom of the first. He stole second before Paxton Kling hit a home run to dead center field to put the Nittany Lions on top 2-1.
Bryce Molinaro and Jack Porter were both hit by pitches to put Penn State on first and second after the home run. Bucknell pitcher Samuel Janik walked Cole Wagner on the next matchup to load the bases for the Nittany Lions.
Jesse Jaconski drove in two runs with a double as Penn State took a four-run lead. Bucknell switched Janik for AJ Murray after a mound visit.
Jaconski immediately stole third and ran home as Joey DeMucci hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field. Redshirt freshman Mike Lucarelli then struck out in his first-ever at bat to close out the inning. Penn State went through the whole order and led 6-1 after the first.
Bucknell hit two singles to drive in a run in the top of the second. Fluharty tried to steal second, but DeMucci picked him out.
Shenosky got out of the inning with a strikeout on Trommer.
In the bottom of the second, Murray hit Kling near his face, knocking his helmet off. Kling trotted down to first despite the hit. Kling advanced to third base after an infield error by Bucknell. Molinaro pounced on a pitch and homered to left field to score two more runs.
Shenosky went through three consecutive batters to register Bucknell’s first scoreless inning in the top of the third.
DeMucci popped a ball to left field and reached second base after a Bucknell fielding error after shortstop Brady Karp dropped the ball.
Despite painting the corners once more, Penn State failed to score in the bottom of the third behind a Kling strikeout. It still led 8-2 as sophomore Mason Butash entered for Shenosky.
Butash started off shaky, throwing two balls in the dirt and advancing a runner to second after walking him. He walked another batter and gave up a single to right field, which drove in a run to make it 8-3. He went through the rest of the inning unscathed.
Bucknell made another critical fielding error, which allowed Molinaro to score in the bottom of the fourth. Jaconski then hit his second double of the day to left field to score Wagner as Penn State reached 10 runs.
Lucarelli then hit a single for his first career RBI as Jaconski ran home. DeMucci scored on another Bucknell fielding error. Penn State led 12-3 after four innings.
Butash blanked the Bison in the top of the fifth.
Molinaro hit his second homer of the game with an opposite-field shot to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning.
Porter flew out to deep center field on the following matchup. Bucknell’s Brady Swenson walked Wagner and Joe Jaconski back-to-back, but forced Jesse Jaconski into a deep fly out to center field.
Bucknell’s Ethan Firestein opened the bottom of the sixth inning with back-to-back walks on Lucarelli and Ryan Weingartner. Derek Cease entered the game to pinch hit for Kling.
Firestein walked Cease to load the bases for Penn State. After a mount visit, Bucknell checked Dylan Radtke in for Cease.
Molinaro hit into a double play, but Lucarelli reached the plate as the Nittany Lions went up by 11. Wagner strook out looking to end the sixth inning.
Bucknell struck out to end the game after the top of the seventh.
Takeaways
- Penn State kept its eye on the ball throughout the entire game. Both teams were tied in hits at the end of the game, but the Nittany Lions won by 11 runs due to their keen ball-watching to take walks.
- The Nittany Lions also dominated Bucknell around the bags. Penn State stole six bases to the Bison’s zero.
- Bryce Molinaro hit two runs in the ballgame, totaling three RBI and running in four runs. The third baseman is now averaging .274 on the year.
What’s Next?
Penn State will gear up for a weekend series against Minnesota. Game one is slated for 7 p.m. on Friday, April 4, at Siebert Field. Folks can tune in on BTN+.
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