May 4, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State baseball team took on Minnesota in a Big Ten contest on Saturday afternoon, falling 7-3 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The Nittany Lions (11-30, 2-15 Big Ten) will conclude the conference series against the Gophers (28-14, 11-3 Big Ten) tomorrow, May 5 at 12:05 p.m.
Minnesota's Alec Crawford earned the win for the Gophers, firing 7.0 innings with six hits and two earned runs allowed. The junior struck out two and walked one before being relieved by sophomore Ty McDevitt. McDevitt posted 2.0 hitless innings with one strikeout.
Junior Greg Welsh (Holland, Pa.) made the start for the Lions, allowing eight hits and four earned runs in 4.0 innings. Welsh, who moves to a 2-5 record on the season, was relieved by redshirt senior Cody Lewis (Laguna Niguel, Calif.). Firing 3.2 innings, Lewis gave up just three hits and held the Gophers scoreless while striking out five. Redshirt senior Dave Walkling (Nanaimo, B.C.) and junior Tim Dunn (Coto de Caza, Calif.) combined for 1.1 innings of relief to close out the contest, holding Minnesota scoreless with just one hit allowed.
The Gophers jumped out to an early lead in the top of the second, with Alex LaShomb batting in Ryan Abrahamson with a base hit through the right side to draw first blood. Singles to right field from both Michael Handel and Troy Larson would drive in two more runs for Minnesota, giving the squad a 3-0 advantage.
Sophomore J.C. Coban (Boca Raton, Fla.) led off the bottom of the inning with a double up the left field line, and would advance to third on a fielding error by Minnesota's Andy Henkemeyer. Driving Coban home with a sac fly to center field, freshman James Coates (Girard, Ohio) earned his 15th RBI as Penn State moved the score to 3-1.Despite the Lions' quick response in the second, the Gophers would go on to tally four unanswered runs over the third and fourth innings for a 7-1 lead.
Lewis' outstanding performance out of the bullpen gave the Lions room to chip away at Minnesota's lead, with the senior catching three batters looking between the fifth and the sixth. Riding the momentum provided by the Lions' defense, Coates went on to earn his second RBI of the contest in the bottom of the sixth, ripping a hit to right field to bring home redshirt senior Elliot Searer (Lewistown, Pa.) from second.
Leading off the bottom of the seventh with a hard-hit double up the left line, junior Zach Ell (Plains, Pa.) extended his hit streak to four games on his second double of the season. Freshman Tyler Kendall (Boynton Beach, Fla.) followed up with a base hit to left field to move the junior to third, and Ell would score moments later on a 4-6-3 double play. The run would prove to be Penn State's last, however, with Minnesota taking a 7-3 victory after McDevitt held the Lions hitless in the ninth inning.
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