Penn State Falls 11-2 to Big Ten’s Best Nebraska
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Nebraska won Game 2 of its three game series with the Nittany Lions 11-2 on Saturday afternoon.
The Cornhuskers took an early lead in the top of the first after lighting up the Penn State defense for six hits and five runs, and they never looked back.
Connor Larkin got the start on the mound for the Nittany Lions, and his day certainly did not go as he planned. He ended up giving up nine hits and seven runs in four innings pitched. Larkin had been one of the more reliable pitchers for Rob Cooper’s squad.
Cooper touched on Larkin’s performance after the game. “That’s not a typical Connor Larkin performance and I know he would love to have that one over again,” Cooper said. “Connor Larkin is a guy that loves to compete and wants to do well for his teammates, he’s had great outings all year long.”
Larkin was tallied with the loss on the afternoon, and his record on the year now sits at 2-4.
Penn State got behind early, and it was a very tall mountain to climb when the Nittany Lions stepped into the batter’s box for the first time already trailing by five runs.
They were able to find some success behind Parker Hendershot and Curtis Robison. Hendershot had an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning, and Robison had an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth.
Aside from those two runs, Penn State couldn’t get anything going. The Nittany Lions were only able to produce a total of five hits on the afternoon. Nebraska’s pitching combination of Chance Hroch, Max Schreiber and Ethan Bradford was stellar. The three combined for eight total strikeouts for the game.
Penn State was 5-5 in its last ten games coming into this series with the Cornhuskers. But after losing the first two games of the series, they have now lost three straight.
Coach Cooper gave his thoughts on his team’s struggles.
“Today was not a good day for us obviously, it’s just not good enough. We didn’t pitch well enough, we didn’t swing the bats well enough, we definitely didn’t play defense well enough,” Cooper said. “Nebraska is a very good team, and you can’t play like that against anybody and expect to have a chance to be in the game.”
With the loss, Penn State falls to 8-15 on the season and will play Nebraska again tomorrow at 11 a.m. in the third and final game of their series. The game will be played at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Trevor Grady is a junior majoring in management information systems. To contact him, email tmg5685@psu.edu.
