Penn State baseball (7-16, 2-4 Big Ten) struggled to get much going on Wednesday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, losing to Bucknell (10-12, 5-1 Patriot League), 9-0.

Despite plenty of traffic on the bases early on, the Nittany Lions couldn’t get the big hit as the Bison slowly tacked on to their lead to come on the verge of run-ruling Penn State on the road.

How It Happened

Ethan Bauerschmidt got the start for Penn State, his second of the season. Bucknell got off to a fast start in this one. Billy Fluhar led off with a single before their top hitter, Michael Trommer, clobbered a ball to right-center field for a quick go-ahead home run. Bauerschmidt rebounded to retire the next three in order, but Penn State trailed 2-0 right out the gate.

Frankie Bilecki took the bump for the Bison in his season debut and the sophomore’s first career start. He quickly gave up a pair of baserunners on a Cohl Mercado single and a Michael Anderson hit-by-pitch. He later walked Bryce Molinaro, but he induced a trio of flyouts to get out of a bases-loaded jam.

Bauerschmidt and Bilecki both cruised through the second, with the only baserunner on either side coming from a Joey DiMucci bunt single. The third was a different story for Bauerschmidt, who wasn’t helped out by his defense.

Deacon Bowne led off the third with a double on a misplay by Kevin Karstetter in left field. After a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases, Bauerschmidt lost Garrett Math and walked him to force in a run, forcing a pitching change. Mason Butash came in and induced a pop-fly to shallow left field, but it dropped between Karstetter and Preston Yaucher to bring in another run. Butash finally got out of the jam two batters later, but not before Bucknell led by five runs.

Jack Porter had an infield single with one out in the bottom half, and it appeared Spencer Barnett had crushed a home run to give the Nittany Lions some life, but the ball died on the warning track.

Butash pitched around a leadoff single in the fourth to put up a zero. Jayden Davis and Maddox McDonald got on to start the home half, and both DiMucci and Yaucher got to three-ball counts after, but Bilecki got a strikeout and 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.

Harrison Lollin took over for the fifth and wasn’t allowing hard contact, but Bucknell was still able to tack onto its lead. Three consecutive choppers went through the infield for hits. One went under the glove of Molinaro, one squeaked past Davis in the four-hole, and Zach Selfon snuck a ball down the right field line for an RBI double. Lollin was able to stop the bleeding there, stranding the bases loaded in a 6-0 game.

Dante Pavone pitched the fifth for Bucknell and got into big trouble, walking a pair before allowing a single to Barnett. In a bases-loaded, one-out jam, he struck out Molinaro and Davis, once again getting the Bison out of major trouble.

Skip Shenosky made his first appearance in two weeks to get a 1-2-3 sixth. Pavone plunked Yaucher and walked Mercado to get into a jam with two out, but Anderson grounded out to end the inning.

Bucknell struck again in the seventh with a single, a hit by pitch, and an RBI single by John Calabre. Andrew Swens walked, Fluhar hit a two-run single, and Bucknell went into the seventh-inning stretch with a 9-0 lead. Pavone plunked Molinaro with two out, but struck out two in another strong inning.

Logan Olson got the ball in the eighth and got the first two outs before a single and a pair of walks loaded the bases. Matthew VanOstenbridge was called upon to avoid being put in run-rule territory. He stranded the bases loaded.

Mikey Myro took over in the eighth for Bucknell, and he sat down the Nittany Lions 1-2-3. Dimond Loosli, who hadn’t pitched in almost three weeks, tossed a clean ninth for Penn State. Myro got the final three outs for the Bison, getting a trio of flyouts to end the game.

Takeaways

• Kevin Karstetter was removed from the game after the third inning. He misread a hard line drive off the bat of Deacon Bowne that started Bucknell’s three-run inning and didn’t take charge of a pop-fly that shortstop Preston Yaucher wound up narrowly missing on. Mike Gambino said after the game that it was not disciplinary.
• After a great situational hitting game on Tuesday, Wednesday was rough. Penn State went 1-for-14 with runners on, 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, 0-for-5 with two outs and runners on base. Thirteen baserunners in nine innings and zero runs is untenable.
• Penn State’s bottom of the order has been extremely bunt-happy lately and, while it’s a thing of beauty when it works, it looks rough when the bunt sign has to come off with two strikes.

Up Next

The Nittany Lions stay home for a three-game weekend series against Illinois, beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 27. Game one will be broadcast on BTN+.