April 13, 2013
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Penn State baseball team battled in a tough Big Ten contest Saturday evening, falling 3-2 to Michigan at Wilpon Complex. The Nittany Lions (7-23, 0-8 Big Ten) will close out the conference series against the Wolverines (19-14, 6-2 Big Ten) tomorrow, April 14, with the noon contest aired by BTN and BTN2Go.
Michigan struck first in the bottom of the second, with freshman Jacob Cronenworth leading off with a double to the left field wall. The rookie moved to third on a groundout play from sophomore Zach Zott, and was able to advance home following an infield single from junior Cole Martin. The Wolverines extended their lead to 2-0 on the next play, with freshman Jack Sexton hitting a hard double to center field to allow sophomore Kevin White to score. Senior Steven Hill (Colleyville, Texas) went on to shut down the Michigan offense, striking out sophomore Eric Jacobson and catching senior Patrick Biondi looking to end the inning.
Responding in the top of the third, junior Alex Farkes (Boston, Mass.) and freshman James Coates (Girard, Ohio) ripped consecutive hits to left field to put runners on first and second for the Lions. With two outs, sophomore Taylor Skerpon (Sayre, Pa.) hit his third double of the season to right field, batting in Farkes for his 12th RBI and to cut Michigan's lead to 2-1.
The two squads would continue to fight back and forth for an edge, with the Wolverine's answering right back in the bottom of the inning. With freshman Travis Maezes resting on second, Zott notched Michigan's third double of the contest to bring home the rookie for a 3-1 lead. Not allowing the opposition to pull ahead, Hill struck out White to end the third.
The Lions went on to post another run in the top of the fourth, again cutting the Wolverines' lead to a one-run game. Following sophomore Aaron Novak (Amber, Pa.) and redshirt freshman Ryky Smith (York, Pa.) being walked by freshman Evan Hill, freshman Tyler Kendall (Boynton Beach, Fla.) grounded out to Cronenworth to move the runners to second and third. Coates stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded, as Farkes was walked, as well. The rookie then earned his 13th RBI of the season as Hill walked his fourth batter of the inning, allowing Novak to cross home plate. The score now rested at 3-2 in favor of the Wolverines.
Michigan was able to hold the Lions off with the bases loaded to close out the fourth, and would hold Penn State scoreless for the remainder of the contest. Evan Hill earned the victory for his squad, firing 5.1 innings with five hits and two earned runs allowed. The rookie improves to a 6-1 record and a 1.89 ERA. James Bourque, Kyle Clark and Cronenworth each saw the mound in relief, improving to respective ERAs of 4.32, 3.44 and 1.06.
Suffering the loss for the Lions, Steven Hill went for 8.0 innings, allowing eight hits and three earned runs while striking out four. Novak tallied his 11th run of the season and extended a five-game hit streak, while Coates has now notched at least one hit in six straight contests.
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