Penn State Baseball Outslugs Bucknell 9-7 On Dollar Dog Night
Penn State baseball (12-26, 5-13 Big Ten) defeated Bucknell (21-18, 15-6 Patriot League) with a 9-7 win on Tuesday evening’s Dollar Dog Night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Mason Horwat started Penn State’s bullpen game with a solid three innings of work, but the bullpen spoiled the shutout in the following two innings, allowing Bucknell to hang a crooked number in the fifth. However, the Penn State bats struck early and often, scoring in six of the eight innings they batted in, which included another multi-home run game from Michael Anderson.
How It Happened
Horwat took the bump for the Nittany Lions in the first, needing 10 pitches to get three outs on two bouncers back to the mound and a ground ball to Preston Yaucher at shortstop.
For Bucknell’s starting pitcher, Frankie Bilecki, the first inning wasn’t as smooth. Lead-off hitter Jayden Davis got ahead 2-0 and blitzed Bilecki’s fastball for a 407-foot solo home run to kick things off.
Two batters later, Bryce Molinaro placed an outside off-speed pitch into right field for a single, but Spencer Barnett ripped into two to end the first.
The Penn State right-hander allowed his first baserunner in the second, but collected a strikeout and got helped by Yaucher’s sliding grab up the middle to wrap up the top half.
As for Bilecki, he ran into some self-induced traffic in the second, walking Jack Porter and Avery Smith, and plunking Kevin Karstetter to load the bases. Porter scored on Maddox McDonald’s sacrifice fly, but the Nittany Lions were unable to bring either other runner in.
The third inning was a little bumpier for Horwat, though he still managed to produce some weak contact and collect a pair of strikeouts. The second Bison to the plate singled up the middle on a 56 MPH groundball, and the fourth on a single through the shift, but Horwat blew a 90 MPH fastball by Ty Lagoni for the third out.
Bilecki started the bottom half by plunking his second batter of the night, Michael Anderson, in the foot. Barnett’s line drive singled a batter later, and Penn State had runners on first and second, one out.
Porter leaked a ball through the 5-6 hole into left field, sending Anderson racing home for Penn State’s third run of the game.
Coach Mike Gambino opted for Frankie Sanchez in the fourth inning, preserving Horwat for the weekend. Sanchez retired the first batter on a ground ball back to the pitcher, but consecutive hits put two runners in scoring position with one out. Penn State traded an out for a run on a groundball, and Sanchez struck out Andrew Swenson to escape with only a run’s worth of damage.
Mikey Myro relieved Bilecki, but did not make out any better than Bilecki. He walked Davis with two outs, bringing up Anderson. The designated hitter jumped on a 1-0 fastball, sending it 437 feet into left field for a two-run home run, giving Penn State a 5-1 lead.
Sanchez ended his evening on the bench as Robert Brown III relieved him for the fifth. Brown III walked the first two Bison he faced and surrendered a station-to-station single to Michael Trommer. Lagoni recorded a sac-fly, which also put runners on the corners with one out.
Gambino brought on Matthew VanOstenbridge to clean up the mess, but he could not do so. Ostenbridge loaded the bases by walking and plunking the next two batters, then walked a run in before surrendering a two-RBI single to Swenson, which gave Bucknell a 6-5 lead.
Ostenbridge recorded a single out before getting pulled for Dimond Loosli. Loosli plunked the first batter he faced, but got the final out on a fly ball.
After sitting on the bench during Bucknell’s long inning, Myro struck out Barnett. But a string of hits from Porter and Karstetter put both Nittany Lions in scoring position with one out. Smith drove in one with a fading liner into right, advancing to second on the throw, and McDonald safety-squeeze-bunted Karstetter in, moving Smith to third.
Smith scored on a wild pitch, giving Penn State an 8-6 lead.
Loosli calmed the game down a little bit with a quicker sixth inning. He faced four Bison batters, striking out the first, allowing a single, and getting a few outs in the field. Bucknell’s new pitcher, Tyler Hawkins, did the same by striking out two Nittany Lions on his way to a clean inning.
Bucknell put a runner in scoring position in the top of the seventh, thanks to a passed ball, but freshman Ethan Bauerschmidt collected the third out by way of the “K.” The Nittany Lions had a similar inning, with Avery Smith reaching first, but Hawkins cleaned the inning up with a strikeout.
The Penn State freshman started the eighth inning, recording two outs, but was pulled for Ben DeMell after walking a batter. DeMell threw four pitches and got the inning-ending lineout.
Anderson padded Penn State’s lead in the eighth with his second home run of the night and 18th of the season.
DeMell came back out in the ninth for a save opportunity. He walked the lead-off man, but got two outs quickly on a strikeout and a pop-out. With two outs, DeMell walked Lleyton Coupe to bring the tying run to the plate. Deacon Bowne punched a two-strike single into right field to score one, and put runners on first and second.
On the first pitch to Billy Fluharty, DeMell produced a groundball back to the mound and threw to first to close out the game.
Takeaways
- Jack Porter extended his hit streak to fourteen games on Tuesday night with a pair of singles through the left side. His batting average is up to .324 on the year.
- In the top of the fifth, Penn State relievers threw 51 pitches, but only 23 strikes, which led to four walks and two batters hit by pitches and set up Bucknell’s five-run inning. These numbers are exemplary of the struggles the Nittany Lion relievers have faced all season: they can’t throw strikes. The pitching staff is fourth in the Big Ten in walks per nine innings at 5.6, and even when they get a good start like Horwat’s — one walk through three innings — the following arms can’t find the zone.
- Michael Anderson launched his 17th and 18th home runs of the season pull-side, with one of them nearly hitting the KIA suburban parked out by the left field scoreboard. The designated hitter leads the Big Ten in home runs by three and in on-base plus slugging with over a 1.300 OPS. Anderson needs two more home runs to break Penn State’s single-season record.
- For Penn State’s fourth and nicest Dollar Dog Night of the year, 4,082 fans packed Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. It’s the largest attendance Penn State has had for a home game this season. Additionally, fans ate 9,319 hot dogs, which ranks second-most all-time behind last season’s West Virginia game.
What’s Next?
The Nittany Lions will travel to Eugene, Oregon, for a three-game set against the nation’s No. 19 team, the Oregon Ducks. The first game of the series is Friday, April 24, with first pitch set for 9:05 p.m. All three games will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.
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