March 2, 2013
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The Penn State baseball team battled University of Texas-San Antonio on Saturday evening, falling 3-2 in a tough, hard-fought contest against the Roadrunners (8-3). The Nittany Lions (2-6) will conclude the UTSA Classic tomorrow, March 3 against Nebraska-Omaha at 1 p.m. ET.
UTSA's Brock Hartson earned the win for the Roadrunners, pitching seven innings and allowing five hits with one earned run. The redshirt freshman struck out seven, and improved to a 3.52 ERA. Senior Steven Hill (Colleyville, Texas) moves to a 0-3 record with the loss, despite all of UTSA's runs being unearned. Hill saw six innings of action, striking out seven while allowing six hits. He now holds a 4.67 ERA.
The Lions were first to get on the board, with senior Luis Montesinos (Miami, Fla.) kicking things off with a single to right field in the top of the third. Montesinos was able to advance to second after a sac bunt from junior Zach Ell (Plains, Pa.), and moved to third as redshirt junior Steve Snyder (West Chester, Pa.) reached on an infield error. With a hit from sophomore Taylor Skerpon (Sayre, Pa.), Montesinos crossed home plate to give Penn State a 1-0 lead.
Despite Hill striking out Jesse Baker and Justin Anderson to begin the bottom of the fourth, a triple from John Welborn would allow Horacio Correa to tie the game. Riley Good would follow up the scoring play with a second consecutive triple to the center field wall, with Welborn moving the score to 2-1 in favor of the Roadrunners. With an infield single from Daniel Rockett, Good would score UTSA's third and final run of the game.
Penn State's defense would step up to hold the Roadrunners to just one hit for the remainder of the contest. Redshirt freshman Ryky Smith (York, Pa.) made an outstanding play in the bottom of the fifth, narrowly catching Anderson's foul just in front of the UTSA stands to end the inning. Montesinos would end the sixth inning, making a diving catch on a tough bounce from Good's hit. The senior quickly threw to sophomore J.J. White (Lansdowne, Va.) at first to shut down the Roadrunner's offense.
A single from Snyder cut the Lions' scoring deficit to just one run, hitting to right field to allow Montesinos to score his second run of the game. However, two consecutive strikeouts from UTSA's Matt Sims would stop Penn State short of tying the contest. Sophomore Casey Kulina (Hummelstown, Pa.) and the Penn State defense, including a diving catch from Ell to end the bottom of the eighth inning, would hold off the Roadrunners from extending their lead. However, the Lions were unable to score in the top of the ninth, ending the contest with the score resting at 3-2 in favor of UTSA.
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