Penn State Baseball Beats St. John’s 12-2 In Home Opener
Penn State baseball (4-6, 0-0 Big Ten) run-ruled St. John’s (1-10, 0-0 Big East) on Wednesday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, 12-2 in seven innings.
The Nittany Lions mashed three home runs, two by Michael Anderson, and never took the pressure off the Johnnies, who were never able to get in a groove. The game ended on a “walk-off” balk.
How It Happened
Frankie Sanchez got the ball for his first start of the season for the Nittany Lions. He got the first two outs, but allowed the next three to reach on a single, a hit batter, and a walk. With the bases loaded and two out, Sanchez jumped ahead 0-2, fell back into a full count, and punched out Sean Britt on a fastball to end the threat.
Tommy Conley toed the slab for St. John’s to start this one and worked a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts. Sanchez rebounded in the second for Penn State, sitting down the bottom of the Johnnies’ order, 1-2-3.
The question of who would get the first hit, run, and home run for Penn State at home this season was answered just two pitches into the bottom of the second, as Jayden Davis smashed his second home run of the season to left field to give the Nittany Lions an early 1-0 lead.
Conley walked Jesse Jaconski on five pitches immediately after and, after striking out Justin Turcovski, gave up a long RBI triple to freshman Preston Yaucher for his first collegiate extra-base hit, prompting a mound visit.
Joey DeMucci would bring Yaucher home on an RBI groundout to bring home a third run, but they weren’t done yet. Maddox McDonald walked with two out, stole second, and scored on a Cohl Mercado RBI single.
Mercado then swiped second before Conley fully lost control with a pair of walks to load the bases, prompting manager Mike Hampton to bring the hook with him to the mound, bringing in Dylan Johnson to face Davis. The new reliever fell behind 3-0 and gave up a long fly ball to center on 3-1, but finally ended the inning when it landed innocently into the glove of the center fielder. But the damage was done; it was 4-0 Nittany Lions.
Mason Butash took over for Penn State in the third after two scoreless innings from Sanchez. He gave up a walk and an infield single, but navigated his way out of a second and third, two-out jam with a strikeout of Ayden Frey.
Johnson came back out for St. John’s in the bottom of the third and gave up one-out singles to Turcovski and Yaucher. With runners on the corners and one out, DeMucci tried a safety squeeze, but it was hit too softly to get the runner home and Penn State would later strand the runners.
St. John’s got on the board in the fourth, thanks to a hit batter and a walk by Butash, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly by Lewis Rodriguez to make it 4-1. Butash walked another batter with two out to bring the tying run to the plate, but he induced an inning-ending forceout, limiting the damage to one.
The momentum was short-lived for the Johnnies, though, as Mercado led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk before Anderson absolutely pulverized the first pitch he saw for his team-leading fourth home run of the season to left field to make it 6-1 Penn State. The ball traveled 438 feet.
A groundout and a hit by pitch would spell the end for Johnson, as Conor Burns took over in relief. Burns would walk Turcovski, but get out of the inning.
Ethan Bauerschmidt would come on for Penn State in the fifth, making his home collegiate debut. A walk and catcher’s interference set the table for Adam Agresti, who lined a single through the left side to drive in a run, but St. John’s would once again strand a pair of runners, leaving it at 6-2.
DeMucci led off the bottom half with a walk and a stolen base, and Mercado singled to get him to third to put runners on the corners with one out for Anderson, who crushed his second home run of the game to deep right-center to make it 9-2.
Burns plunked Bryce Molinaro, and that ended his night, as Evan Hoeckele took over for the Johnnies and immediately induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the fifth.
Bauerschmidt ended a stretch of long half-innings in the top of the sixth, retiring the side on just six pitches. Hoeckele responded with a 1-2-3 frame of his own. Harrison Lollin got the ball in the seventh inning for the Nittany Lions and walked a pair, but put up another zero in his season debut.
After the seventh-inning stretch, Kyle Chase took over for St. John’s and gave up a pair of singles off the bat to DeMucci and McDonald. Mercado then got plunked to load the bases for Anderson, who went the other way with a sawed-off two-run single to make it 11-2.
Tyler Longor came on to pitch for the visitors in a last gasp to avoid a run-rule ending, but walked Molinaro to bring the game-ending run 90 feet away. On 0-1, Longor stumbled off the mound and balked, forcing in a run to end the game.
Takeaways
- For fans who loved Paxton Kling’s power last season, you’re going to love watching Michael Anderson all season long. The senior Arkansas transfer is up to five home runs on the season and crushed two on a cold night in State College. If he hit a ball the same way he did in the fourth back in the Bahamas, it probably would’ve traveled over 460 feet. His 7 RBIs tonight were one shy of tying the program record.
- Hitting with runners in scoring position was a big problem in the Bahamas, but Penn State did significantly better tonight, going 4-for-8 while additionally going 8-for-16 with runners on base.
- Penn State and St. John’s haven’t played each other a ton of times, so this is Penn State’s first win over them since April 1982.
Up Next
Penn State baseball heads back on the road to Lubbock, Texas, to square off with Texas Tech at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 6. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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