Penn State Baseball Series Grades vs. Maryland
Despite ultimately falling short in the three-game set at College Park, things could’ve gone much worse for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions managed to pick up their first ever win at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium during the middle game of the series.
Here’s a look at how each position group performed over the weekend.
Offense: B+
Against the No. 23 team in the country, the blue and white managed to hang around with the big bats of the Terrapins in two of the three games.
Over the weekend, the Nittany Lions combined for 12 runs, with half of them coming in their Game 2 victory.
The Nittany Lions started the weekend by going back and forth with the Terps for the first seven innings before the game broke open.
They did so mostly via small ball, as Penn State managed to take advantage of four Maryland errors while also hitting two sacrifice flies.
During the lone win from the weekend, the Nittany Lions had 12 hits, with most of them coming late in the game as the lineup managed to take advantage of a tired Ryan Ramsey, who came into the game on a tear starting the season as Maryland’s ace.
Johnny Piacentino went deep for the first time this season and Tayven Kelly came through in the clutch, pinch-hitting in extra innings.
While Penn State hit another home run by Cole Bartels, that was one of the few bright spots in a loss the next day where the Nittany Lions only had two runs cross the plate.
Despite the ending, it was a great weekend overall for a Penn State offense that came into the weekend struggling.
Pitching: B-
While there were a few instances where some arms were left in longer than necessary, it proved to be a solid weekend for the pitching staff overall.
The Nittany Lions faced a tough task against a Maryland lineup that has several big bats, including Maxwell Costes, who leads the team in home runs, and Troy Schreffler Jr., who leads the team in batting average.
Those two players combined for just five hits over the three game series.
During the first game of the series, Jaden Henline went five innings in his first start of the season and only allowed three runs despite walking five batters.
In a situation where reliever Mason Mellott is taken out earlier, perhaps the Nittany Lions stand a much better chance, but instead he allowed four runs on five hits as Maryland took a late lead.
The middle game of the series saw the blue and white stay in the game despite going up against a talented ace in Ramsey.
Steve Miller pitched an outstanding game in relief of starter Kellan Tulio, as he pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless baseball to keep Penn State in the game.
Things almost got out of hand as the Nittany Lions, who saw manager Rob Cooper get ejected from the game innings earlier, decided to let Travis Luensmann pitch a third inning of work in a situation where the blue and white had a shot at the upset in extra innings.
After allowing a few early base runners, Luensmann survived and got Penn State the win.
The final game of the series got ugly quickly as Tommy Molsky and Jordan Morales, who was pitching for a second straight day, got knocked around early and often.
While that last day may hurt the overall grade a little, getting one road win over one of the top teams in the Big Ten is definitely going to be a big confidence boost moving forward.
Logan Bourandas is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.
