ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Penn State baseball team opened its weekend series at Michigan in style on Friday, March 28, with a 12-hit, 12-5 Big Ten victory over the Wolverines at Ray Fisher Stadium.
The Nittany Lions hit three home runs in the game and broke it wide-open with a six-run sixth inning that put them ahead 11-2.
Yet it was a three-game series, and Michigan was able to come back from that loss. The Wolverines evened things on Saturday, March 29, by hanging on for an 8-7 win and then took the series with another one run win, 6-5, in the finale on Sunday, March 30.
On Friday, March 28, Michigan opened the series with two runs in the bottom of the first inning, but Penn State quickly went ahead with three runs in the top of the second inning on a two-run double by Jesse Joconski and an RBI single by Cohl Mercado.
The Lions scored single runs in the fourth and fifth on home runs by Cole Wagner and Ryan Weingartner before taking control of the game with a six-run sixth.
In the sixth, Weingartner hit a two-run double, Paxton Kling followed with a sacrifice fly and Bryce Molinaro put the Lions ahead by nine runs with a three-run home run that scored Joe Jaconski and Weingartner ahead of him.
Michigan came back to tighten things with three runs in the bottom of the inning, but shutout pitching from there by relievers Dimond Loosli and Chase Renner closed out the win.
The win was the team’s 17th of the season and had the Lions looking ahead to the weekend.
Michigan, however, quickly took an 8-2 lead after four innings on Saturday, March 29, and was able to hold on for an exciting 8-7 win that tied up the series.
Penn State took an early 2-1 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Molinaro and a sacrifice fly by Kling, but Michigan scored seven runs in the third and fourth innings to take a commanding 8-2 lead.
Penn State began a comeback in the fifth when Porter knocked in a run with a single and Wagner hit a bases-loaded double to left center field that plated three runs and brought the Lions to within 8-6 with four innings still to play.
Penn State pitchers Matt Van Ostenbridge and Anthony Steele kept Michigan off the scoreboard over the final four innings, but the Lions could only manage one more run on a sac fly by Jesse Jaconski in the top of the seventh.
On Sunday, March 30, Penn State again went ahead early–this time by 5-0 after the third inning–but Michigan rallied to tie the game with five runs in the bottom of the third inning.
From there the teams were scoreless until the Wolverines scratched in a run in the seventh inning and made it stand for the 6-5 win.
Weingartner scored two runs and had two hits in the game while Porter got two hits and two RBIs and Wagner hit an RBI triple.
The loss left the Lions with a 17-10 overall record and 6-6 in the Big Ten.
Penn State will now return home for a single game against Bucknell before heading out again, this time to Minnesota, for a weekend series on Friday, April 4, Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6.
