Early grand slam pushes Penn State to conference victory over Ohio State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- Penn State baseball has struggled in conference play recently, but that was not the case in their most recent bout with Ohio State.
The Penn State Nittany Lions hosted the Ohio State Buckeyes for Friday night baseball at Medlar Field to kick off this weekend’s series.
Penn State made some noise early in the first inning as they got on the board first after Jay Harry was hit by a pitch and reached first, followed by a pair of singles from the likes of Josh Spiegel and Thomas Bramley that would load the bases for the blue and white.
Jaden Henline had a strong pitching performance as he went for seven innings and only gave up three runs in his time on the mound. Henline dedicated his stellar performance to his ability to trust himself and throw the right pitches.
“Sticking to what I do best, which is filling up the zone and just trusting that,” Henline said. “I want to be out there for as long as I can.”
Following a hard-fought plate appearance by Brandon Marsh where he went down on strikes, Johnny Piacentino stepped in to take care of business for the Nittany Lions with two outs on the board.
Piacentino sent a long fly ball to right-center field as it cleared the wall for a Grand Slam. Penn State grabbed the lead 4-0 over Ohio State after only one inning of play.
The Buckeyes struggled early, as they went scoreless through the first four innings, with not much threat on the basepath. Not including the two walks in each of them, Ohio State was unable to reach first base in both the 2nd and 3rd inning.
The second inning was quiet for both teams as neither was able to cash in some runs.
The bottom of the third brought back the excitement as two runners reached base for Penn State after a fielding error and a walk before scoring a couple of insurance runs.
After striking out in his first appearance, Marsh was able to knock a double to left-center field and bring in the two runners on base in his second appearance at the plate and put the Nittany Lions up 6-0.
A scoreless fourth came next, but the fifth inning featured scoring on both sides as Ohio State was finally able to get on the board. The Buckeyes were able to get two men on base with one out before a well-placed groundout that advanced one runner and scored the other making it a 6-1 ballgame.
The Nittany Lions would answer with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning, which came from a single from Grant Norris that allowed Marsh to score. They allowed no runs from the Buckeyes in the top of the 6th, and put up two of their own in the bottom of the inning making it 9-1.
Ohio State was able to make their deficit smaller after putting up two runs in the top of the seventh after a two-run home run from Kade Kern, making it 9-3. The score did not change as they were able to hold Penn State from scoring in the bottom half.
The eighth inning saw no runs from Ohio State but featured a long home run by Harry to right
field bringing the Nittany Lions into double digits. They would lead 10-3 at the end of eight.
Nittany Lions head coach Rob Cooper commented on the pitching, and its ability to stay hot throughout the game.
“His ability to repeat pitches for strikes and he throws a fastball to savor that is so tough to hit,” Cooper said. “His delivery is what allows for such consistent strikes.”
The blue and white were able to close out the matchup by striking out the last three batters in the top of the ninth inning, securing the 10-3 victory.
Brendan Conroy is a third-year studying broadcast journalism. To contact him email him at brc5392@psu.edu.
