Penn State baseball (8-18, 3-6 Big Ten) dropped the rubber match to Illinois (14-12, 6-6 Big Ten) 6-0 on Sunday’s getaway game at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

Freshman Isaiah Shayter gave Penn State its best start of the weekend, going 5 and two-thirds, but defensive miscues set the stage for Illinois small-ball, which gave it a lead that went untested through the entirety of Sunday’s game.

Penn State’s bats couldn’t get much going following the Nittany Lions’ 13-hit Saturday, and their best chance to score was diminished by a double play, which they lead the Big Ten in with 26.

How It Happened

Sunday starter Shayter took the bump late Sunday morning for Penn State and faced four Fighting Illini, striking out one looking, to close the top half of the first frame. He was helped by his battery partner, Joey DeMucci, who threw out a Fighting Illini attempting to steal second base.

Illinois’ Sunday starter, Aidan Flinn, came into the game possessing a 1.65 earned run average across six appearances and four starts. Flinn proved his season statistics in the first inning, retiring the Nittany Lions in order with two ground balls and a strikeout.

Shayter continued Penn State’s pitching struggles against Illinois’ plate discipline by walking the first batter he saw in the second. He retired the next two Fighting Illini, but Will Johannes sliced a double down the line, and Maddox McDonald’s arm couldn’t keep the walked runner from scoring from first.

Flinn gave a free pass to first to Bryce Molinaro, but worked through the other Nittany Lions without any issues, and closed out the second frame with a three-pitch strikeout.

McDonald got some action in the top of the third with two fly balls fading down the left field foul line, and he ran both down for putouts. The Fighting Illini tacked another hit on the board, but were unable to advance him past first. Shayter posted a scoreless frame.

Flinn did the same, putting DeMucci down swinging, and getting the lineup’s turnover to roll over for two groundouts. Through three innings, the Fighting Illini starter had three strikeouts on 41 total pitches.

Shayter’s pitch count ran a little higher than Flinn’s entering the fourth, and despite the lead-off single, he only needed six pitches to finish up another scoreless frame as he produced a first-pitch double play.

Michael Anderson got Penn State’s first hit of the midday matchup, though it could be credited to Illinois’ shortstop, who threw errantly to first. Nonetheless, Jack Porter knocked one up the middle for Penn State’s second hit, and Flinn faced his first threat of the day.

Spencer Barnett, who squared to bunt the runners over on the first pitch, worked himself into a 2-2 count and flew out to the right field wall, advancing Anderson to third. Flinn still had a double play opportunity with Molinaro at the plate, but walked him on five pitches, loading the bases for the team leader in double plays grounded into, Jayden Davis.

And as foreshadowed, Davis worm-burned one to shortstop for an inning-ending double play. Illinois still leads 1-0 heading into the fourth.

Small-ball ensued in the fifth inning to give Illinois a padded lead. After an infield single with a throwing error that advanced Johannes to second, Illinois dropped three consecutive bunts, scoring a run on one of them, and an out on the other.

The small-ball didn’t stop there, as Michael Farina lifted a sac-fly to right field to extend Illinois’ lead to three runs. Shayter finally escaped the inning with a ground ball to Davis.

Flinn’s day ended on the bench after working four scoreless innings, and Reed Gannon came on for Illinois. Gannon struck out McDonald, then got DeMucci and Preston Yaucher to ground out on three pitches each.

Surprisingly, Shayter stayed in for Penn State with 67 pitches, and he put the first batter of the inning down swinging. However, a two-out single in a full-count ended the freshman’s day. Coach Gambino called upon Dimond Loosli to put an end to the sixth, but it was DeMucci who did so, throwing out Kyle Schupmann at second.

Gannon stayed on for the sixth inning and surrendered Penn State’s first extra-base hit of the day, but produced two balls in play for outs to keep the Nittany Lions off the board.

Defensive miscues by Penn State allowed Illinois to extend its lead to five in the seventh. Loosli allowed a one-out walk, and J.R. Nelson flared one into left-center that Cohl Mercado was unable to track down. On the relay throw to second, Yaucher flung the ball past Davis and all the way to Penn State’s dugout, allowing one run to score, and Nelson to advance to third. He scored on a single with the infield pulled in.

Robert Brown III relieved Loosli and produced two flyouts that ended the top half of the frame.

Gannon’s defense didn’t help him out either. Molinaro led off with a pop-up in shallow center field that was dropped, allowing him to pull into second base standing. However, Gannon extinguished the fire with two strikeouts, stranding Molinaro on second.

Matthew VanOstenbridge was brought in to stretch the game for Penn State. He retired the first two batters, but struggled with command and walked the next two. Illinois’ nine-hole stroked a single up the middle, scoring one, and advancing the other to third. VanOstenbridge stranded both with a backwards K.

In his fourth inning of work, Gannon retired the side in order with just ten pitches.

Mason Horwat took the final inning of work and kept the Illinois batters at bay, facing four and striking out one. The Nittany Lions faced a six-run deficit in the ninth.

Cole Warehime relieved Gannon for the final frame. The southpaw reliever produced three straight ground balls to third baseman Schupmann to end the weekend series.

Takeaways

• Despite the three runs credited to him, freshman starter Isaiah Shayter pitched a solid game, allowing only one extra-base hit through 5 and two-thirds innings. Considering the Nittany Lions have allowed 24 runs through two games, Shayter’s outing was the best we saw from a Penn State pitcher over the weekend.
• Penn State’s defense was the root of all its problems. Illinois bunted its way to a three-run lead in the fifth as Penn State was unable to record an out on consecutive sacrifice bunts. Additionally, Preston Yaucher threw away a relay throw to second, allowing one run to score, and another to advance to third.
• Illinois tossed three lefties against Penn State’s lineup today, and the matchup posed an advantage for the Fighting Illini. The Nittany Lions only tagged three hits against the lefties and two walks, both by Bryce Molinaro.

What’s Next?

Penn State hosts a solid Big 12 squad in UCF for a midweek match and Dollar Dog Night on Wednesday, April 1, at 5:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on BTN+.