UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State baseball team rallied on Saturday, March 22, at Medlar Park for an 11-5 victory in Game 2 of its three-game series against Michigan State, but the Lions couldn’t keep that momentum going into the series final on Sunday, March 23.
The two teams split the first two games of the Big Ten series with MSU taking the contest on Friday, March 21, 4-0, and then the Lions coming back for their six-run win on Saturday.
On Sunday, though, Michigan State broke open a tight game with four runs in the eighth and ninth innings to clinch a 10-5 victory and a 2-1 win in the series.
On Friday night in the first game, Spartan pitchers Joseph Dzierwa, Dominic Pianto and Tyler Horvath combined to throw a three-hit shutout at the Lions in a 4-0 MSU victory.
Dzierwa started, went five innings of two-hit ball with five strikeouts and took the win. It was his fifth win of the season without a loss.
Pianto threw 3.2 innings and gave up just one hit and gave way to Horvath who came in in the ninth to get his first save.
The win was the Spartans’ 15th of the year against six losses.
On Saturday, Penn State left fielder Jesse Jaconski hit two home runs, including a grand slam, as the Lions rebounded with an 11-5 win that tied the series at one game each.
Penn State was down early in the game 5-1 heading into the fifth inning when RBI hits by Matt Maloney and Ryan Weingartner sparked a four-run rally and tied the game at 5-5.
Then in the sixth, Jesse Jaconski slammed a home run with Nate Voss, Jack Porter and Joe Jaconski on base that gave the Lions the lead for good at 9-5.
Single runs in the eighth and ninth sealed the deal and PSU had its 16th win against five losses.
Mason Horwat started for the Lions and threw seven innings with seven hits, four earned runs and three walks. Anthony Steele finished with three innings of no-hit ball to earn the save.
In the finale on Sunday, March 23, Michigan State held a tight, 6-4 lead heading into the final two innings and then scored a run in the eighth and three more in the ninth to take the series with a 10-5 win.
Penn State stayed hot at the plate with 12 hits, but the Lions left 11 men on base and collected just three extra-base hits.
Paxton King had three hits, while Joe Jaconski had two hits and an RBI. Voss, Porter and Bryce Molinaro also had RBI hits.
The loss put the team at 16-7 overall for the season and 5-4 in the Big Ten.
Next up for PSU were home games against Pitt and Bucknell before a trip to Michigan for a three-game series beginning on Friday, March 28.
