Penn State Baseball Splits Friday Doubleheader With Washington
Penn State baseball (14-32, 7-19 Big Ten) split a Friday doubleheader at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park with Washington (22-28, 11-15 Big Ten).
The Nittany Lions dropped a 5-4 heartbreaker in the first game despite a strong start by Colin Fitzgerald, blowing a 2-1 lead and getting the tying run to second base in the ninth. In the nightcap, the offense jumped on the Huskies early, and the team got sharp relief to secure a split with a 6-4 victory.
How It Happened
Game One
Fitzgerald got the start for the Nittany Lions, his 12th of the season. He was rudely greeted by Braeden Terry, who ripped a triple into the right-center field gap, setting up Jackson Hotchkiss for an early sacrifice fly to give Washington a 1-0 lead in the first. A double by Colton Bower and an E4 suddenly put a bigger inning at risk, but Fitzgerald held them to one.
Jackson Thomas toed the slab for the Huskies in the bottom half of the inning, his ninth on the year. He started things off with a 1-2-3 first, striking out Michael Anderson in the process.
Ty Cowan led off the second with a double for Washington, but was stranded on three straight groundouts. Avery Smith got Penn State’s first hit in the bottom half by lacing a two-out triple to left center, but was similarly stranded on third base.
Bower doubled with two outs in the third, his second double of the game, but Fitzgerald froze Mic Paul on a 2-2 pitch to end the inning. Thomas responded with a 1-2-3 inning.
Washington got two more baserunners against Fitzgerald in the fourth on a single and a walk, but once again couldn’t cash in. Bryce Molinaro lined a double for his 21st extra-base hit of the season with one out in the bottom half of the inning, but was left stranded.
Two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 fifth by Fitzgerald continued to keep Penn State in striking distance, and the offense finally picked their ace up. After a two-out walk from Maddox McDonald, the Nittany Lions got a monumental swing from Preston Yaucher, as the freshman shortstop smashed his first collegiate home run to dead center field to make it 2-1 Penn State after five innings.
Now in line for a win, Fitzgerald started the sixth, but allowed two of the first three batters to reach, necessitating Mike Gambino to call on Ben DeMell to relieve his starter. DeMell immediately walked Casen Taggart to load the bases with one out, but retired the next two batters to hold the lead.
Anderson led off the bottom half with an infield single, but the Nittany Lions were retired in order after a forceout and a poorly timed hit-and-run led to an easy 4-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Kyle Emmons took the ball in the seventh for Penn State and was greeted by a leadoff double by Hotchkiss and a single by Sam DeCarlo to put the tying and winning runs on base. In an unenviable situation, Emmons induced a 5-4-3 double play that eliminated DeCarlo, but Hotchkiss scampered home to tie the game at two after seven.
After six innings from Thomas, Washington made a change and called on Tommy Brandenburg to pitch after the seventh-inning stretch, and he ran into some good fortune. Spencer Barnett socked a ball to right field that was ticketed for a double off the wall until a fantastic leaping grab by Terry robbed him. The very next at-bat, Smith lined a comebacker off Brandenburg that deflected right to the shortstop for a 1-6-3 putout. A single by Jesse Jaconski was later stranded.
Emmons has been one of Penn State’s best relievers this season, but he struggled mightily with command against the Huskies. Two walks and some deep counts all through the eighth inning eventually came back to bite him, as Ethan Swidler rocketed a back-breaking three-run home run to left-center field to make it 5-2 Washington.
Needing to pick themselves off the mat, Penn State’s big boppers got them back in it. Anderson singled with one out to set up Molinaro, who continued to climb up the ranks in program history with his 14th home run of the season on a 419-foot moonshot to center field, cutting the deficit to 5-4.
Robert Brown III tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to give the offense a chance against Carson Boesel. Barnett led off with an opposite-field warning track flyout, Smith struck out, and Jaconski seemed to have flown out to end the game, but the ball hit off the glove of Terry in right field for a double to keep the game alive.
Jack Porter, who’s missed the last two weeks with an injury, pinch hit for McDonald with the tying run on second and hammered a 2-2 pitch to deep left field, but it died on the warning track on a gloomy, lukewarm day in State College as a perfect allegory for Penn State’s season. Penn State suffered another crushing 5-4 loss in the opener.
Game Two
Ben Hudson got the start for Penn State, his 13th of the season. It started as an unbridled disaster for him, as the first three batters all reached on two singles and a walk. With the bases loaded and nobody out, he surrendered a sacrifice fly to Bower, but stranded the other two runners.
Noah Kenney started the nightcap for Washington, making his 12th start of the season. Jayden Davis started things off with a leadoff double, and Penn State was able to strike right back with a seeing-eye RBI single by Kevin Karstetter with two outs to tie the game at one after one.
Taggart doubled with one out in the second off Hudson, and Hotchkiss had a leadoff walk in the third, but neither scored as the West Virginia transfer induced a pair of ground balls and struck out a pair to put up a pair of zeroes over the next two innings.
After a 1-2-3 second for Kenney, he wasn’t so fortunate in the third. A four-pitch walk to Davis, a single by Anderson, and a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position with one out for Molinaro, who lined a two-run single into center field to put Penn State in front, 3-1, after four.
Hudson induced a pair of ground balls and a weak pop-fly in a 1-2-3 fourth. Jaconski led off the bottom half of the inning with a long home run to left field, his fourth of the season, to extend the lead, but it wouldn’t stop there. A bunt single and stolen base by McDonald, a sacrifice bunt, and a sac fly by Yaucher made it 5-1 Nittany Lions after four.
A shutdown inning would’ve been appreciated for the Nittany Lions, but Hudson got into trouble in the fifth. After a one-out single by Terry, Hotchkiss blasted his 18th home run of the season to deep left field to cut the Penn State lead to 5-3. Two singles later in the inning put the tying runs on base, but Hudson stranded them.
Liam Lierman replaced Kenny in the bottom of the fifth and worked around a leadoff walk to Molinaro to put up a shutdown inning of his own.
Mason Butash took over for Hudson in the sixth and got into trouble after a walk and a double with one out put the tying run in scoring position. He surrendered a sac fly to Terry, but held a 5-4 lead through the end of the inning.
Lierman stayed out for a second inning of work and gave up a pair of singles to Jaconski and Joey DeMucci, setting up Davis with two outs. The left fielder tacked on an insurance run with an RBI single to center to make it 6-4 after six.
Butash allowed a leadoff single in the seventh, but erased it by inducing a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Barnett had a two-out single in the bottom half against Bryce Johnson, but was stranded.
After another strong, scoreless inning for Butash in the eighth, Gunnar Nichols took over for Washington and delivered a 1-2-3 inning to hold serve and keep the Huskies in range heading into the ninth.
Mason Horwat was tasked with picking up his first save of the season against the heart of the Washington order, passing the test with flying colors. He struck out Hotchkiss and Carlo in a 1-2-3 inning to secure the split.
Takeaways
- Bryce Molinaro continues to climb the ladder in Penn State history. He’s up to 147 career RBIs and 38 home runs. He’s fifth in program history in career RBIs and just four shy of fourth. He’s getting closer and closer to Shawn Fagan’s program record of 43 career home runs.
- Colin Fitzgerald and Ben Hudson both made their final home starts of the season, and both gave their team a chance to win, combining to toss 10.1 innings and allow just four runs.
- Preston Yaucher’s freshman year has been defined by his incredibly mature defense, but also his offensive struggles. He had a strong day today, going 2-for-6 with his first collegiate home run and 3 RBIs. Doesn’t hurt that he continued to flash the glove defensively.
- With four games to go, Penn State essentially needs to win out to get a chance of into the Big Ten Tournament. Their “tragic” number is down to two. That’s a combination of losses, and Rutgers wins.
What’s Next?
Penn State and Washington will play the rubber game of this weekend series at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 9. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.
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