April 12, 2014
7 Ohio State (20-15, 3-8 Big Ten) | Columbus, Ohio • Bill Davis Stadium• Attendance: 1,373 | 0 Penn State (17-15, 5-2 B1G) |
COLUMBUS, Ohio; April 12, 2014 - The Penn State Nittany Lions (17-15, 5-2 Big Ten) could not replicate Friday night's performance against Ohio State (20-15, 3-8 Big Ten), falling to the Buckeyes by a final of 7-0 on Saturday. The loss is just Penn State's third in its last 15 games.
Ohio State's Greg Greve was dominant on the afternoon, tossing a complete game shutout. The senior scattered four hits over the nine innings, allowing just two walks and recording three strikeouts. Greve used just 86 pitches in the winning effort.
The lone bright spot for the Penn State offense was Greg Guers' (Langhorne, Pa.) day at the plate. The sophomore went 2-for-4 at the plate and was the only Nittany Lion hitter to record multiple base hits. The multi-hit performance marks his eighth of the season.
The Buckeyes had the first scoring opportunity of the afternoon. Ohio State's Josh Dezse reached on an error in the second inning with one out. Two batters later, Aaron Gretz drove a ball to the right field wall. PSU right fielder Zach Ell (Plains, Pa.) threw a bullet to Taylor Skerpon (Sayre, Pa.), who fired a perfect relay throw to Alex Farkes (Boston, Mass.) at the plate. Farkes placed the tag on Dezse for the third out of the inning, keeping the game scoreless.
One inning later, the Buckeyes broke through to score the game's opening run. Ohio State's Nick Sergakis led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run over the left field wall. The home run was the sophomore's first of his career.
In the fourth frame, the Nittany Lion defense had a letdown inning, committing two errors that proved costly. The two Penn State miscues in the field led to two Ohio State runs. The Buckeyes scored both runs in the fourth off errors, a walk and no hits.
After scoreless fifth and sixth innings from both sides, the hosts broke the game open in the bottom of the seventh. Ohio State loaded the bases with no outs and then scored the first run off a sacrifice fly to increase its lead to 4-0. Two batters later Dezse lifted a pitch over the left field wall for a three-run home run to give the Buckeyes a comfortable 7-0 lead, the score by which they won by.
Penn State will play the rubber game of the three-game set against the Buckeyes on Sunday at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. The game is slated to begin at 1:05 p.m.