Penn State Baseball Beats Bucknell 7-6 After Chaotic First Inning
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- Penn State defeated Bucknell 7-6 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
The first inning was the most significant, and it was full of chaos.
Anthony Steele was the starter for the Nittany Lions, but he did not last long at all. Steele faced seven batters in the first inning, but only struck out one of them.
He gave up two hits, plunked a batter and loaded the bases. All of this accounted for five earned runs, and he did not even make it out of the first inning.
Coach Rob Cooper quickly replaced Steele with Blaise Sclafani. However, Sclafani was not much better than his teammate.
Sclafani walked three straight batters, which led to two runs being scored. After just three batters faced, Cooper went out for a second time and replaced Sclafani.
Cooper opted for Carson Kohls, who was not even warming in the bullpen when he was called into the game. However, Kohls came in and got the job done to finally end the inning.
Overall, the top of the first inning was a complete disaster for Penn State aside from using a whopping three pitchers. At the end of the sequence, Bucknell led 5-0, had two hits, one error and left the bases loaded.
The blue and white offense was eager to get going after falling behind by such a large deficit, and it did. Matt Wood and Jay Harry each got on base, which put the Nittany Lions in a good position with only one out.
Josh Spiegel hit a double down the left field line that scored Wood. The big inning was just getting started, as two more runs were scored. Both Harry and Spiegel wound up scoring, and the score was 5-3 Bison at the end of the first inning.
Cooper opted to keep Kohls in the game. At that point, Kohls was on cruise control. Kohls gave up one hit, then turned that into a double play, followed by a strikeout to end the top of the second inning.
Penn State’s momentum from the first inning carried into the second. Two more runs were scored in the second inning to tie the game 5-5 after a single from Wood that scored Cole Bartels and Derek Cease. The Nittany Lions took full advantage of wild pitches and such, running all over the bases, including on a balk.
The blue and white scored one run in each of the next two innings, giving them a comfortable 7-5 lead.
Meanwhile, Kohls was dealing against the Bison. Kohls allowed three hits with five strikeouts against 12 batters over 3.1 innings pitched.
His calm mentality helped him navigate what initially was a tough situation.
“I just kept a 0-0 mentality and went out there and did what I had to do,” Khols said.
Bucknell only scored one more run, which came in the sixth inning after Kohls had been taken out.
The Nittany Lions continued to play on cruise control the rest of the game, defeating Bucknell 7-6 in a comeback victory led by Carson Kohls and Matt Wood.
Penn State now heads to Northwestern for a weekend three-game series in search of a Big Ten series win on the road.
Nolan Wick is a first-year majoring in journalism. To contact him email nhw5046@psu.edu.
