Penn State baseball (5-15, 1-4 Big Ten) dropped its fourth consecutive Big Ten game on Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette against Purdue (15-6, 5-3 Big Ten), 2-1.

The Nittany Lions took an early 1-0 lead and had multiple opportunities to extend their lead, but some poor situational hitting gave the Boilermakers enough time to rally back and take the lead on a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning to take the series ahead of Sunday’s series finale.

How It Happened

Zach Erdman got the start for Purdue and worked a clean, 1-2-3 first inning to start things off. Ben Hudson made his sixth start of the season for Penn State and gave up a one-out double to Eli Anderson before picking him off on the very next pitch, putting up a zero to open the game. Both Erdman and Hudson tossed 1-2-3 second innings, as well.

Penn State struck first in the third with small ball and patience. Jesse Jaconski walked and advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt and a slow groundout before scoring on a wild pitch to make it 1-0. Cohl Mercado and Michael Anderson also reached via hit-by-pitch and walk, respectively, but were stranded.

The lead was immediately threatened in the bottom half after Jaconski lost a ball in the sun, which allowed Dylan Drake to hustle out a leadoff double. A Westin Boyle single shortly after put runners on the corners with nobody out, but Hudson tip-toed his way out of trouble by inducing a pop-out and a humpback liner that landed in the glove of Jayden Davis, who doubled off Boyle at first for a 4-3 double play.

Spencer Barnett led off the fourth with a single, but was erased on a 4-6-3 double play. Davis doubled right after to give Jaconski a chance at driving him in, but he popped out to end the threat. In the bottom half, Jack Porter committed an E3 with one out, but the ensuing double play picked him up.

Maddox McDonald singled, and Mercado doubled with one out in the fifth to put pressure on Erdman and the Boilermakers. Another intentional walk to Michael Anderson loaded the bases to give Bryce Molinaro a huge opportunity, but he grounded into a 4-4-3 double play to end the inning.

CJ Richmond led off the bottom of the fifth with a double for Purdue and would score the tying run on an RBI double by Drake, but Hudson was able to hold the Boilermakers to one in the inning by inducing a pair of flyouts to keep the game tied at one, wrapping up a rock-solid five-inning outing.

The sixth was more of the same. Davis tried to set the table with a one-out single, but was erased on yet another double play. Kyle Emmons relieved Hudson in the bottom half and immediately gave up a home run to Ali Banks to make it 2-1 Purdue.

Both Emmons and Erdman sat down the side in order in the seventh. Trevor Kester-Johnson started the eighth solely to face Mercado, and after inducing a groundout, departed for Jake Kramer, who retired the next two batters. Emmons got through the eighth with help from a perfect 8-4-5 relay to cut down Brandon Rogers at third base when he tried to leg out a triple and a diving play for the third out by Mercado.

Kramer came back out to close out a five-out save for the Boilermakers and retired the heart of the Penn State order on just 11 pitches.

Takeaways

• While the offense hasn’t been close to the team’s biggest issue in the first 20 games of the season, its inability to get the big hit continues to be an issue. They went 1-for-7 with runners on base and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and had multiple opportunities to tack on runs early that they failed to capitalize on.
• Michael Anderson was intentionally walked twice today with runners on base, and Penn State did not score a run on either occasion. In a game where Purdue generated its two runs on a pair of long doubles and a solo home run, the Nittany Lions need more power around Anderson. Otherwise, opponents won’t pitch to him.
• It’s been startling how rough Penn State has been defensively this season. After four errors on Friday, they committed just one today, but lost three fly balls in the sun that did not register as errors. The pitching picked up those mistakes today, but they won’t always. Purdue, conversely, played an exceptional defensive game.
• This was the best pitching performance of the season for Penn State. Eight innings of two-run ball from Ben Hudson and Kyle Emmons was exactly what they needed, but the offense was ice cold.

Up Next

Penn State concludes the three-game weekend series against Purdue at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 22. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.