May 16, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Dropping the series opener to Michigan State on Thursday evening, the Penn State baseball team fell 16-1 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The Nittany Lions (13-35, 3-19 Big Ten) will take on the Spartans (32-16, 11-8) again tomorrow, May 17 at 2:05 p.m.
MSU's Andrew Waszak earned the win for the Spartans, moving to a 6-3 record on the season with a 2.36 ERA. The senior fired 7.0 innings, allowing six hits and just one earned run while striking out four. Waszak was relieved by freshman Anthony Misiewicz, who held the Lions scoreless with just one hit allowed in the eighth. Sophomore Mike Mestdaugh closed out the contest, firing a hitless ninth inning with one strikeout.
Michigan State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first, with sophomore Jimmy Pickens recording his ninth home run of the season with a blast over the right field wall. Pickens earned two RBIs, driving in redshirt sophomore Ryan Richardson, as well. The Spartans went on to tally six runs in the second inning, and slowly collected eight more runs over the duration of the game to gain a 16-1 lead. Pickens led his squad at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs. Sophomore Blaise Salter went 3-for-6 with two runs and three RBIs, while freshman Cam Gibson went 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs. Richardson collected one hit, an RBI and three runs, with Anthony Cheky, Kevin Goergen and Justin Hovis each tallying two runs, as well.
Penn State's sole run was notched in the bottom of the fourth, with redshirt senior Elliot Searer (Lewistown, Pa.) leading off with a hard-hit double to left center. A base hit through the left side from senior Luis Montesinos (Miami, Fla.) would move Searer to third, followed by junior Zach Ell (Plains, Pa.) singling through the left side to bring home the senior.
Searer led the Lions at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one run scored and a double in his eighth multiple-hit game of the season. Ell went 2-for-4 with his eighth RBI of the season, while Montesinos and freshman James Coates (Girard, Ohio) each collected a hit. It was Montesinos' 48th of the season and Coates' 47th to extend his hit streak to five games.
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