Penn State baseball splits both series with Michigan State and Purdue

Penn State baseball was able to take two of four games from its trip to East Lansing, Michigan, against conference foes Michigan State and Purdue over the weekend.

The Nittany Lions won their first series of the season last week, against Rutgers, and were looking to build on that momentum heading into this weekend, sitting with a 6-11 record and in third-to-last place in the Big Ten standings.

They were able to salvage out two victories — including a 7-3 victory in the second game of their doubleheader against Michigan State and an impressive 11-0 shutout over Purdue on Saturday — to improve their season record to 8-13.

Penn State entered Friday’s doubleheader against the Spartans with starter Bailey Dees on the mound, who looked shaky to start the game. He gave up a lead-off single, and found himself in a jam after a fielding error by the shortstop. Dees then allowed a single to Spartans’ outfielder Joe Stewart to score a run, and Michigan State extended its lead to two after a wild pitch.

The Spartans added an additional run the next inning after Zach Iverson blasted a home run to left center to take an early 3-0 lead. Dees settled down after that for a few frames, but found himself in another jam in the sixth inning after walking two consecutive batters and throwing another wild pitch. He ended the day throwing 5.0 innings allowing five earned runs on seven hits while recording two strikeouts.

Nittany Lions relief pitcher Hutch Gagnon closed out the inning, but not before Michigan State added two more runs. While outfielder Curtis Robison was able to hit his first home run of the season in the third inning, the team didn’t produce enough offense to keep up with the Spartans and ultimately fell 7-4 in the first game of the doubleheader.

The second game saw a lot more fashionable hitting from Penn State, as it put up four first inning runs on the Spartans thanks to a Justin Williams double down the line, followed by catcher Matt Wood’s two-run home run for his third of the year.

The Nittany Lions started Conor Larkin on the mound who, like Dees, had trouble keeping Michigan State off the board early as he surrendered two first inning runs and the Spartans found themselves down only 4-2 heading into the second frame.

Both teams added a run in the 3rd and 5th innings, respectively, and the score was 5-3 heading into the top of the 8th. That’s when Wood hit a clutch double, advanced to third on a Spartans’ throwing error, and eventually scored on a fielder’s choice. Ben Kailher also found himself tagging home on a sac-fly as Penn State commanded a 7-3 victory in Game 2.

Larkin went 5.2 innings throwing four strikeouts while allowing three earned-runs on four hits and picked up his second win of the season. But it was Tyler Shingeldecker who closed the game out for the Nittany Lions, pitching the final 3.1 scoreless innings and spelling the Spartans’ offense the rest of the way. Penn State combined for 11 hits in the victory.

After completing its double-header against Michigan State, Penn State was tasked with taking the mound early on Saturday against a struggling Purdue team. Kyle Virbitsky got the start, and produced one of his best outings of his collegiate career thus far.

He went 8.1 innings allowing no earned-runs on only five hits and recorded six strikeouts to pick up his first victory of the season, along with his first shutout game. The Nittany Lions offense continued their offensive spark from last game, totaling 17 hits and scoring 11 runs.

Wood continued his dominance from the Michigan State series, hitting 3-for-5 with three RBIs. First baseman Parker Hendershot matched Wood’s performance, also going 3-for-5 and he added two RBIs of his own. Wood and Kris Kremer hit the game’s only two home runs, as Penn State routed Purdue on Saturday.

Looking to clinch their second series of the season and first series sweep, the Nittany Lions started freshman Jaden Henline in Sunday’s matchup with the Boilermakers, which they ultimately lost 8-5. After two quick outs, Henline gave up a pair of doubles as Purdue bounced out to an early 2-0 lead.

Hendershot closed the gap the following inning, hitting a home run to left-center field. But the Boilermakers kept on making contact off Henline’s pitches, as they hit a lead-off double soon followed by an RBI single and that’s all the action Henline saw before relief pitcher Mason Mellott came in for Penn State, down 3-1.

Hendershot did his best to keep the game close, as he once again blasted a home-run that put the Nittany Lions only down one in the fifth inning. They eventually took the 4-3 lead as Wood tripled, followed by a pair of doubles from Robison and Josh Spiegel.

However, Penn State couldn’t hold the lead, as the Boilermakers scored three runs in the seventh inning, and an additional two runs in the ninth inning to take Game 2 of the series.

Henline was given the loss, and while the Nittany Lions were able to produce nine hits, their late-game pitching proved to be detrimental again as they failed to hold a lead late in the game.

Penn State returns home Friday to take on Nebraska in a three-game weekend series, first pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

This story was originally published April 11, 2021 at 5:57 PM.