Penn State Baseball Grades vs Youngstown State
The Nittany Lions are having an inconsistent season since returning north to play ball.
Penn State lost tough series against Michigan and Indiana but followed those up with a sweep of Delaware State and an electric win over West Virginia.
After a series loss to Purdue over the weekend, Penn State bounced back with a 10-8 win over Youngstown State in a game that had its highs and lows.
Starter Ben DeMell: C-
The redshirt freshman from Concord, Ohio has struggled in his first season of action at Penn State. DeMell has given up at least one earned run in seven out of eight appearances this season.
This trend continued against Youngstown. He gave up six runs and two unearned runs in 2.2 innings.
DeMell also allowed eight of Youngstown State’s 11 hits. He was able to tally three strikeouts, but DeMell is still finding too much of the plate this season.
The four unearned runs show that DeMell wasn’t the main reason the Penguins gained an early lead. But he needs to perform better than he did Tuesday night.
Relief Pitching: A-
It’s never easy on a pitching staff when a starter exits early. But the Penn State bullpen handled it almost perfectly.
Together four relievers only gave up three hits and one earned run over 6.1 innings.
Winning pitcher Anthony Steele is having an impressive season out of the pen. After Tuesday’s appearance, he has 14 strikeouts over 7.1 innings and his three earned runs all came in one game.
On Tuesday, he pitched 1.2 and struck out three batters.
Senior Ryan Partridge pitched well in the middle innings. He went 2.1 innings and only gave up a hit and one earned run.
Penn State’s bullpen collectively gave the batters a chance to fight back into the game and win.
Hitting: A-
Penn State did a great job at capitalizing when runners got on base. The Nittany Lions produced strong plate appearances throughout the game that wore down the Youngstown State pitchers.
Once the Penguins slipped, Penn State got one or more big hits from its top players.
Graduate third baseman Grant Norris continued his recent hot streak with two RBIs on the night. Freshman Bobby Marsh had three RBIs, two of which came on the game-winning double in the eighth inning.
All the Penn State bats were on as all but one starter recorded a hit.
Fielding: F
It’s very rare to win a baseball game when the team commits four fielding errors. But Penn State’s bats were able to make up for the defensive mishaps.
Only three of the eight runs that Penn State gave up were earned. If Penn State had a poor hitting game, it very easily could’ve lost due to errors.
This is something that needs to be cleaned up as the Nittany Lions head deeper into the season.
Jayson O’Connell is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jbo5216@psu.edu.
