DeMell and Steele Power Penn State Baseball to 15-1 Victory
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Sun’s out and it's 60 degrees in State College. Which means it’s time for Penn State baseball.
Penn State took on the Binghamton Bearcats at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on Tuesday night with the first Dollar Dog night of the 2023 season and the Nittany Lions defeated the Bearcats 15-1.
It was an impressive start for redshirt freshman Ben DeMell, who went one-two-three in the first inning.
In the second, DeMell loaded the bases, but a quick grab by Ben Kailher at third base and a throw to home took two off the board.
DeMell and Binghamton starter Dan McAliney were wheeling and dealing: the first two innings took less than a half hour to play.
Binghamton grabbed the lead first, but a wild pitch by McAliney brought Kailher home for a tied game at one even.
In the fourth inning, senior Ryan Partridge replaced DeMell, who went 3.2 innings and allowed six hits and one earned run but struck out two Bearcats.
Binghamton had a pitching change in the fourth, too, and Andrew Fingleton let up Anthony Steele’s first home run of the season.
Steele said he had been working on his lower half and “getting wider in the stance” over the past few weeks for power.
Kyle Hannon added on with a solo shot in the fifth inning to give Penn State its second home run of the day.
Connor Throneberry replaced Partridge in the top of the sixth, who pitched his longest outing of the season and got out of his inning courtesy of a 6-3 double play.
In the bottom of the seventh, Jay Harry brought in a run on a double and extended the Penn State lead 6-1, and Tyler Bramley, who extended his on-base streak to seventeen games, came around on a wild pitch for the 7-1 lead.
Then, Johnny Piacentino put the Nittany Lions up 9-1 on an RBI-double, his eighth and ninth RBI of the season. He eventually came home on a Steele sacrifice fly.
Medlar saw some brotherly love in the inning as Jake Cooper sent home Tyler Cooper on a ball that went over the Binghamton shortstop’s glove.
Raleigh-born freshman Ty Torti recorded his first collegiate hit on a single in the eighth inning.
Then, sound the trumpets for Steele, who added on to his day with two strikeouts as a closer.
“It’s always exciting to touch the mound as a two-way guy,” Steele said. “And just knowing that the coaches have faith in [me] to still go out there.”
Penn State has driven in 28 runs over the past three games, and with 15 of those coming from today and four from Steele, head coach Rob Cooper noted that this squad is the “offensive team [he hopes they] can be and be consistent… when you can do that, you got a shot to be good.”
“When you look at the lineup one through nine, and you have guys coming off the bench like that, you know you have guys who can compete. You know you don’t have to rely on one or two guys, so it’s a team effort for sure.”
The Nittany Lions travel to Ann Arbor for a three-game series against the Michigan Wolverines starting March 24 and will be back home March 28 to take on the Pitt Panthers.
Adrianna Gallucci is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email amg7989@psu.edu.
