April 12, 2013
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Despite holding a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Penn State baseball team dropped a 5-1 contest on Friday evening after a late-game rally from Michigan. The Nittany Lions (7-22, 0-7 Big Ten) will face the Wolverines (18-14, 5-2 Big Ten) tomorrow, April 13 at 4:05 p.m. for the second game of the weekend series.
The Wolverines' bats came alive in the bottom of the eighth, after being held scoreless and to just two hits for the first seven innings. With the bases loaded after three consecutive walks, junior Michael O'Neill hit an infield single to bat in senior Patrick Biondi, with freshman Travis Maezes advancing home on a throwing error. Now holding a 2-1 lead, sophomore Zach Zott singled to right field for an RBI as freshman Jacob Cronenworth crossed home plate. A double to right field from sophomore Kevin White would seal the win for Michigan, bringing home O'Neill and Zott for a 5-1 edge.
Redshirt sophomore T.J. Jann (Westford, Mass.) had an excellent outing for the Lions, firing 7.0 scoreless innings in his fifth start of the season to improve to a 3.75 ERA. It is Jann's longest scoreless inning streak to date, with the Massachusetts native allowing just two hits and striking out one Michigan batter. Suffering the loss for the Lions, junior Ian Parvin (Irvine, Calif.) moves to a 1-1 record on the season after .2 innings of action, while redshirt senior Cody Lewis (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) closed out the contest with just one hit allowed.
Michigan's Matt Ogden earned the win, with the sophomore improving to a 4-0 record on the season. Ogden went 1.1 scoreless innings with two hits allowed, while Cronenworth came in to pitch the final inning of the contest, holding the Lions hitless. Sophomore Trent Szkutnik made the start with six hits and one earned run in 6.2 innings. Szkutnik struck out a career-best 12 to hold the Penn State offense at bay.
Penn State's sole run would come at the top of the seventh, with senior Luis Montesinos (Miami, Fla.) keeping the Lions alive with a double to the left center wall on two outs. Sophomore Aaron Novak (Ambler, Pa.) followed with a clutch single to right field, bringing home Montesinos from second for a 1-0 lead. It would prove to be the Lions' only run, however, with the squad unable to rally back after Michigan's five-run showing in the bottom of the eighth.
Montesinos led the Lions with his first double of the season, going 3-for-4 with his 14th run. Novak's RBI came on his 45th career hit to extend a three-game streak, while freshman James Coates (Girard, Ohio) went 2-for-4 for a five-game hit streak. Sophomore Taylor Skerpon (Sayre, Pa.) and junior Alex Farkes (Boston, Mass.) each collected a hit on the day, with Skerpon tallying his 25th of the season.
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