March 29, 2013
/ Listen Live / Tickets
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State baseball team opened its weekend series to Purdue on Friday evening, falling 6-1 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The Nittany Lions fall to a 0-4 record in the Big Ten with an overall mark of 5-16, while the Boilermakers earned their first conference win of the season to move to 1-3 and 8-14 overall. The second game of the series is set to begin at 2:05 p.m. tomorrow, March 30.
Freshman pitcher Jordan Minch earned the win for Purdue, firing 8.0 innings and striking out five. Minch improved to a 5.21 ERA after allowing just five hits and one earned run, while Mike Lutz improved to a 5.82 ERA following one inning of relief. The freshman held the Lions hitless in his ninth appearance of the season.
Suffering the loss for Penn State, redshirt sophomore T.J. Jann (Westford, Mass.) improved to a 5.06 ERA after allowing two earned runs and three hits in 4.0 innings. Jann was relieved by freshman Nick Hedge (Winnetka, Ill.), who fired 3.1 innings allowing three hits and one earned run. Junior Ian Parvin (Irvine, Calif.) and sophomore Casey Kulina (Hummelstown, Pa.) each saw the mound for the Lions, as well, with Parvin holding the Boilers scoreless in his outing.
Penn State jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first, with redshirt junior Steve Snyder (West Chester, Pa.) recording his 25th hit of the season to move redshirt senior Elliot Searer (Lewistown, Pa.) into scoring position. Although Snyder was caught stealing on the next play, Searer was able to advance to third as sophomore J.C. Coban (Boca Raton, Fla.) stood at the plate. Coban then hit a tough infield single to the first baseman to allow the PSU veteran to sprint home. It was Searer's 12th run of the season, giving the Lions a 1-0 lead, and Coban's 30th career RBI.
Answering in the top of the third, the Boilers were able to knot the score at one with senior Stephen Talbott scoring on a wild pitch. Purdue took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a run from freshman Jack Picchiotti, and the Lions found themselves in dangerous territory as the bases were loaded with no outs. Sophomore Taylor Skerpon (Sayre, Pa.) shut down Jake Hansen for the first out, snagging the redshirt senior's infield fly to keep the Boilers immobilized. With Talbott back up at the plate, Skerpon, senior Luis Montesinos (Miami, Fla.) and sophomore J.J. White (Lansdowne, Va.) combined for a swift 6-4-3 double play to strand Purdue's runners.
The Boilermakers would begin to pull away in the top of the fifth, however, with Purdue tallying two more runs for a 4-1 advantage. Both Snyder and junior Zach Ell (Plains, Pa.) would play excellently defensively to keep Purdue's bats at bay, but the Boilers would end with a 6-1 victory thanks to clutch hits from Hansen and freshman Kyle Johnson in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively. Johnson led his squad, going 2-for-3 and collecting two RBIs and a run scored.
Penn State will take to Medlar Field again tomorrow and will close out the Purdue series at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday, March 31. Both contests will be available via and Listen Live, as well as updated at the @PennStateBASE Twitter account.
Season tickets for students are just $20, with Student General Admission tickets starting at $2 and Student Bleacher tickets at $1. Season tickets for Adult General Admission start at $63, while Adult General Admission tickets are sold for $4. For fans interested in the Diamond Club "In the Box" seats, single games start at $6 and season tickets will be sold for $99. Youth General Admission and Season tickets are the same cost as student tickets. Single game tickets can be purchased at the Spikes' Box Office or via the Tickets page on GoPSUSports.com.
Check back to GoPSUSports.com for continued updates during the 2013 season. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/PennStateBASE and find us on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstatebaseball.