Penn State baseball (25-15, 12-10 Big Ten) couldn’t make it back-to-back ranked victories, as it fell in Los Angeles on Friday night to No. 15 UCLA (30-11, 14-5 Big Ten) in a heartbreaker, 7-6.

Excellent defense, including a home run robbery, by the Bruins doomed Penn State early, who managed just two hits and were held scoreless after the first through eight innings.

An incredible ninth-inning rally gave the Nittany Lions a brief lead, but two costly errors in the bottom of the ninth let UCLA grab victory from the jaws of defeat.

Ryan DeSanto gritted through six innings but took the loss after surrendering two home runs in the first inning. Jesse Jaconski managed three RBI, and Jack Porter had a big two-run single late.

How It Happened

Penn State needed to come out swinging to pull off the road upset, and it absolutely did.

Against UCLA’s Ian May, Paxton Kling and Jack Porter drew a pair of walks with one out. After a double steal on a Bryce Molinaro strikeout, Jesse Jaconski opened the scoring with a two-run single to left, 2-0 Penn State.

Jesse Jaconski rips a single into left to bring in Kling and Porter!

T1 | PSU 2, UCLA 0#WeAre pic.twitter.com/VtdJIjqjDZ

— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) April 26, 2025

Despite giving its ace some early run support, DeSanto struggled to get into a groove early against the great UCLA offense, surrendering first-inning home runs to both Roch Cholowsky and AJ Salgado, putting the Nittany Lions in a 4-2 hole after one.

Both starters settled in after their first inning struggles, as DeSanto struck out four in the next two innings while May retired the next seven Nittany Lions until a two-out walk in the fourth that was stranded.

Among those seven straight retired by May was Ryan Weingartner, who almost made it a one-run game in the third until he was robbed of a home run in right field.

DeSanto continued to grind against the team on top of the Big Ten, getting through the fourth despite surrendering a very deep flyout to center field.

Cohl Mercado walked with one out in the fifth to force a pitching change and tried to force the issue after a pickoff error, but he got gunned down by an absolutely perfect throw by UCLA first baseman Mulivai Levu. That error loomed large, as a pair of walks later in the inning were stranded, keeping the score at 4-2.

DeSanto got a 1-2-3 inning to get his team back in the batter’s box as they started to put together better at-bats. A walk to Molinaro and a single by Joe Jaconski put two on with one man out for Nate Voss, but UCLA retired both he and Patrick Graham to end the threat.

DeSanto finished the sixth inning and ended up with an impressive start against a ranked foe, tossing five shutout frames after giving up two bombs early. Penn State’s offense once again got a runner in scoring position in the seventh, but their struggles with men on base continued as the game went into the eighth. 4-2.

Anthony Steele pitched a scoreless seventh for Penn State, but got into trouble to start the eighth inning. With first and third and one man out, Steele induced a ground ball that was close to ending the inning with a double play, only for Salgado to beat it out to make it 5-2 UCLA after eight.

UCLA’s struggling closer Justin Lee kept the door open for Penn State, walking both Voss and Matt Maloney to bring the tying run to the plate. Despite a Mercado strikeout, Penn State had the top of the order up with a chance to do damage.

Weingartner walked on four pitches to load the bases for Kling, but not before UCLA got freshman Easton Hawk into the game. On the very first pitch, Kling reached base for the fourth time after he got plunked, cutting the deficit to 5-3.

A dream inning for the Nittany Lions continued when Porter ripped a ball up the middle that deflected off Hawk and trickled into left field, scoring a pair of runs and miraculously tying the game at five. After another strikeout, Jesse Jaconski got his third RBI of the game by ripping a ball into left field for a go-ahead RBI single. Joe Jaconski nearly put the game out of reach with a towering three-run bomb, but he barely missed it, flying out to the warning track.

When the dust settled, Penn State took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth, sending Dimond Loosli for the save.

Nittany Lions take the lead! Jesse Jaconski through the left side to bring in Kling!

T9 | PSU 6, UCLA 5#WeAre pic.twitter.com/GUbt0TG3Gb

— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) April 26, 2025

Loosli induced a groundout to start the inning, but things went sideways when he was hit by a comebacker, slipped, and made an ill-advised throw that went wide of the first baseman and allowed the tying run into scoring position. Loosli was removed due to injury, tasking Ben DeMell with closing this one.

DeMell walked his first batter before inducing a pop fly to left field. Jesse Jaconski elected to play it on a bounce to get the forceout at third, but misread the ball, and it bounced past him, tying the game and putting the winning run on third.

After an intentional walk, Penn State sold out for a double play that never came, as a great play by Joe Jaconski was wasted, as Levu beat out the double play ball, and UCLA walked it off, 7-6.

Takeaways

• Penn State showed on Tuesday night against West Virginia that they can compete with ranked teams, and Friday’s effort didn’t dismiss it. Despite dropping this game, a pitching staff that entered this week with a cumulative ERA of over six held two ranked teams to subpar scoring totals.
• The defense, which was sharp for most of the year, ruined the game for Penn State again. Just two weeks after losing a game on the backs of three costly errors, Penn State shot itself in the foot repeatedly as it tried to close out a massive road victory.
• Penn State stole four more bases today. It leads the Big Ten with 89 stolen bases and is two shy of the program record set in 2000 (91).
• DeSanto, gritting his way through six innings after allowing four in the first, was going to be celebrated as a game-saving performance by their ace until the brutal collapse.

What’s Next?

Penn State is back in action at Jackie Robinson Field in Los Angeles against UCLA at 5 p.m. on Saturday as it works to even up the weekend series.