Penn State Baseball Uses Late Rally to Top Milwaukee in 1st of 3 Games
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Catcher Matt Wood went 3-for-3, and the bullpen was dominant, as Penn State defeated the Milwaukee Panthers 6-4 in the first of a three-game series on Friday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
The matchup marked the teams’ first-ever matchup, and it was the Nittany Lions’ first game in five days, as their previous two games against Niagara were canceled due to poor field conditions from a recent snowstorm.
In addition, a full crowd was welcomed back to the stands for the first time in three years..
With the win, Penn State improved to 6-9 on the season, while Milwaukee fell to 5-7.
Not playing in nearly a week didn’t seem to affect Penn State, as it was dominant in all areas throughout the game, especially on the mound.
“I thought we pitched extremely well,” Penn State coach Rob Cooper said. “I thought Travis Luensmann was really good; Shingledecker was really good. Obviously, Henline was great. And then we played great defense."
The right-handed Luensmann, a sophomore, lasted 4.2 innings, allowing four earned runs, seven hits and one walk, while striking out six batters.
He gave way to senior lefty Tyler Shingledecker, who pitched 2.1 innings, not allowing a single run, and striking out three. The sophomore right-hander Henline came in to close it out for the blue and white.
As a whole, the Nittany Lions' bullpen pitched four stellar innings, as it didn't allow any runs and struck out six batters.
Offensively, the Nittany Lions garnered six runs on 11 hits.
Penn State drew first blood in the bottom of the second inning, when junior catcher Matt Wood stayed hot by hitting a two-run triple. Wood added two singles in his next two at-bats to increase his batting average to .377 — a team best.
"It felt great," Wood said. I was seeing the ball well."
Milwaukee managed to cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth, thanks to an RBI single by junior first baseman Nate DeYoung.
The Panthers exploded in the top half of the fifth, as they collected three runs on four straight two-out hits to take a 4-2 lead.
The score remained 4-2 until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Penn State garnered three straight two-out hits of its own, including a game-tying RBI single by senior first baseman Cole Bartels. During the next at bat, Milwaukee catcher Jack Thelen overthrew pitcher Ryan Hoerter, easily scoring Kyle Hannon from third to give the Nittany Lions the lead back at 5-4.
The Nittany Lions added an insurance run in the eighth, thanks to an RBI single by junior center fielder Johnny Piacentino -- and Henline pitched a clean, 1-2-3 top half of the ninth to propel Penn State to the come-from-behind victory in its home opener.
Christian Smith is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email cfs5591@psu.edu.
