Penn State baseball continued Big Ten play, hosting the Rutgers Scarlet Knights this weekend at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Penn State’s hitting was on display, featuring exciting back-to-back-to-back home runs by Michael Anderson, Bryce Molinaro, and Spencer Barnett on Sunday. Despite the bats jumping, defensive miscues took center stage throughout the weekend. The mistakes didn’t go unpunished.

This home series, through all the madness, brought out the best in our Nittany Lion baseball fans. There were two great weather days and a day to celebrate our very own Nittany Lions’ 122nd birthday. His birthday was celebrated in great fashion with a win on Sunday.

Here are some of our favorite photos from the weekend series.

Friday, April 17

The Nittany Lions dug themselves a deep hole early on. Starting pitcher Colin Fitzgerald, with no help from the rest of the defense, gave up 10 runs in the third inning. Only four of those were earned for the Scarlet Knights.

Despite the early mistakes, Penn State fought back the rest of the game with bats, sparked by a Jack Porter two-run home run in the fourth inning. This got it within two runs. In the end, the Nittany Lions came up short with a final score of 13-11.

Saturday, April 18

Saturday’s storyline was a bit different. There were significantly fewer runs scored by both teams. Penn State’s offense couldn’t find its groove, hitting .125 in situations where runners were in scoring position. The Nittany Lions had a common theme of stranding runners.

This game against the Scarlet Knights was tight. In the top of the seventh inning, Rutgers took control with a hit to center by Ryan Jaros, bringing two runs in on a single. This proved to be detrimental to the Nittany Lions as they didn’t score for the rest of the game, and Rutgers took the win by a score of 4-1, along with clinching the series.

After the game, players came to sign autographs and meet young fans to end the day of beautiful weather and baseball.

Sunday, April 19

Sunday came for the Nittany Lions, and so did the weekend series finale against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. This game was different. Not only was the box score completely different than the previous day, but the weather was almost 30 degrees colder with chilling winds. Welcome to Happy Valley, folks. You most definitely didn’t hear about this place for its warm weather.

Happy 122nd birthday, Nittany Lion! The fun and festivities were awesome.

Of course, he had to throw the first pitch.

Isaiah Shayter got the start on the mound and pitched a scoreless inning to start the game.

Preston Yaucher, with two outs and bases loaded, knocked one out to left to score two runs and get the Nittany Lions going.

In the next few innings, scores poured on.

And just like that, Michael Anderson, Bryce Molinaro, and Spencer Barnett went back-to-back-to-back, hitting home runs.

In the seventh inning, just as the Nittany Lions seemingly were going to win by mercy rule, Rutgers made it hairy. The Scarlet Knights scored seven runs in the seventh inning, allowing them back in the game.

It took the full nine innings for this game to be decided. By no stretch was it a stress-free event, but the Nittany Lions came out of the nail-biter victorious, 14-13 win over Rutgers. After taking losses in the first two games, Penn State baseball ended the weekend series with a win, a perfect gift for the Nittany Lion on his birthday.