Penn State baseball (26-18, 12-13 Big Ten) dropped the first game of their weekend set at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park against Maryland (21-16, 7-15 Big Ten) on Friday night, 7-4.

Ryan DeSanto didn’t have his best stuff tonight, as Maryland put up three in the first and never looked back. Maryland’s ace put together a good outing despite poor defense, and its vulnerable bullpen held up just enough.

The Nittany Lions were supposed to play a doubleheader on Friday, but due to storms in the forecast for later in the night, only one was played. First pitch was scheduled for 4 p.m., but ugly weather resulted in a 90-minute delay that pushed the start time to the originally scheduled time of 5:30, which partially contributed to the doubleheader being scrapped.

How It Happened

DeSanto took the bump to open the weekend. He gave up an infield single to open the game before Chris Hacopian blasted a two-run homer to left field to quickly make it 2-0 Maryland. His older brother, Eddie Hacopian, followed him up with a solo home run, making it 3-0 before DeSanto even recorded an out. He recovered to get three of the next four out to get through the first.

Maryland ace Kyle McCoy worked around a one-out double by Paxton Kling to respond with a zero. DeSanto worked around some command issues to get through a scoreless second inning.

Jesse Jaconski, back in the lineup after exiting Wednesday’s contest with an injury, led off the second with a single to left field, only to be stranded. DeSanto couldn’t keep serving with McCoy, as he surrendered a third home run to Jacob Orr, and Penn State fell behind 4-0.

With one out in the bottom of the third, Ryan Weingartner chopped a 2-2 pitch slowly towards the second baseman, who threw it wide of the bag to allow him to reach. A frozen rope into the left-center field gap by Kling scored him from first to get Penn State on the board. Another error, this time by the shortstop, allowed Kling to get to third before Bryce Molinaro ripped the first pitch he saw up the middle for his 50th RBI of the season to make it 4-2 after three.

DeSanto plunked the first batter he faced in the fourth, but a scorched line drive down the left-field line ended up in Molinaro’s glove, who fired across the diamond to pick off the runner at first, as Penn State got their first 1-2-3 inning of the game.

The swings kept getting better off of McCoy, as Joe Jaconski smoked a first-pitch ground-rule double to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Joe Jaconski got multiple great leads off of McCoy before taking off for third with one out. A baffling decision by McCoy saw him throw the ball into center field with Joe Jaconski sprinting for third. That throwing error, Maryland’s third, plated another run for Penn State, making it 4-3.

Joe Jaconski was credited with a stolen base during that fiasco, breaking the Penn State program record for stolen bases in a season with the team’s 92nd. Derek Cease swiped a bag later in the inning for good measure.

With Joe Jaconski's steal in the 4th, Penn State has broken its season steals record! 92 steals!

Breaks the record previously held by the 2000 team (91 SB)!#WeAre pic.twitter.com/X231Bw9O0O

— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) May 2, 2025

Penn State couldn’t keep the momentum in its favor, as DeSanto got in quick trouble in the fifth and surrendered another pair of runs, making it 6-3. He finished his outing allowing six runs in five innings, the most runs he’s allowed this season.

After McCoy tossed a good fifth for Maryland, Ben DeMell took over for the Nittany Lions, but he didn’t have his best stuff either, as two singles, two wild pitches, and a walk generated a run. A double play helped him prevent further damage, but Maryland took a 7-3 lead.

Towards the end of his rope, McCoy got in deep trouble after a Cease double put runners on second and third with one out, but the Maryland starter got out of the jam and finished his outing with six innings and zero earned runs allowed.

Matthew VanOstenbridge tossed a scoreless seventh, and Penn State again put two runners on against the new Maryland pitcher, but its poor hitting with runners in scoring position continued, sending the game into the eighth at 7-3.

Another solid inning for VanOstenbridge held the score. Cease walked, and Cohl Mercado singled to put another two runners on with one out. After stranding runners in the prior two innings, Weingartner lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in a run, cutting the deficit to 7-4 after eight.

Coach Mike Gambino tried to get a third inning out of VanOstenbridge, who put two on with nobody out. Despite the jam, he struck out the next three batters to at least give the Nittany Lions a chance in the ninth.

Jack Porter led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, as Maryland tried to get a nine-out save from Logan Hastings. With two out, Joe Jaconski worked a six-pitch walk to bring up Voss as the tying run, but Voss struck out to end the game.

Takeaways

• A big part of the identity of this Penn State team has been using its legs, so it’s not surprising to see them break the program record for stolen bases in a season by the team. Penn State has a decent amount of games left to set the bar high for future teams.
• As is the case in many of their losses, the Nittany Lions just couldn’t get the big hit. They went 4-for-23 with runners on and 1-for-11 with RISP. Several opportunities late to slowly creep back into the game were wasted.
• DeSanto had a rough first inning last week against UCLA, but settled in to give six strong innings. He couldn’t do the same today.
• That’s five straight conference losses, and Penn State is now below .500 in conference play. With five such games left to play, a strong start is needed to stay off the cut line for the Big Ten Tournament, which is no longer a certainty.

What’s Next?

With the doubleheader scrapped, Penn State will look to get another two games in at some point this weekend against Maryland. A time or date for the resumption of this series has yet to be announced.