April 10, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State baseball team continued its four-game home stand Tuesday evening, topping Kent State 3-2 for its second straight win. The Nittany Lions (7-21) outhit the Golden Flashes (14-16) 10-8, giving the squad momentum heading into tomorrow's contest against Bucknell. The first pitch is slated for 6:05 p.m., with the game serving as "Paint the Park Purple" Night. Each ticket sold will donate $1 to Relay for Life.
Junior Ian Parvin (Irvine, Calif.) earned his first career win as a Nittany Lion in the 3-2 victory, firing 2.0 scoreless innings with just two hits allowed. Parvin tied his career record of two strikeouts while walking one. Appearing in his first career start, freshman Nick Hedge (Winnetka, Ill.) went for 4.0 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits while striking out two. It was a new career-high for the rookie, who fired a total of 63 pitches in his seventh overall appearance. Redshirt senior Cody Lewis (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) had an excellent relief outing, closing the final three innings by holding the Golden Flashes scoreless. Lewis struck out three and held the opposition to just one hit.
The Lions posted two-run showing in the bottom of the first, following Hedge striking out two Kent State batters in his opening inning. With runners on first and second, sophomore J.C. Coban (Boca Raton, Fla.) singled to center field to allow redshirt senior Elliot Searer (Lewistown, Pa.) to score his 80th career run. Senior Luis Montesinos (Miami, Fla.) would eventually step up to the plate with redshirt junior Steve Snyder (West Chester, Pa.) on first and sophomore Taylor Skerpon (Sayre, Pa.) on third, ripping a hit to left field to bat in Skerpon. It was Montesinos' 16 RBI of the season, giving Penn State a 2-0 lead.
Responding in the top of the third, Kent State's Alex Miklos led off with a hard-hit triple to left center. The Golden Flashes would get on the board with a sac fly from Zarley Zalewski, batting in Miklos to move the score to 2-1. Evan Campbell went on to tie the contest in the top of the fourth, stealing third and then scoring on a groundout to Montesinos from T.J. Sutton. It was Sutton's 18th RBI of the season, but it would prove to be Kent State's final scoring play of the contest.
Sophomore Aaron Novak (Ambler, Pa.) kicked off the bottom of the fourth with a hit straight up the middle, followed by sophomore J.J. White (Lansdowne, Va.) hitting a consecutive single to put runners on first and second. Novak went on to score following a sac bunt from junior Alex Farkes (Boston, Mass.) and a sac fly from freshman James Coates (Girard, Ohio), with Coates earning his 12th RBI of the season on the play. The rookie's game-making catch on a fly from Jeff Revesz in the top of the ninth would all but seal the win for the Lions, with Lewis holding off the Golden Flashes to give Penn State a 3-2 victory.
Following the Lions' contest against the Bison, Penn State will travel to Michigan for a three-game conference series this weekend. Friday and Saturday's contests have been moved to 4:05 p.m. due to weather, while Sunday's first pitch remains set for noon.
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