Feb. 21, 2015
| 23 | |
| 3 | 9 |
| Blue Bell Park | College Station, Texas | Attn: 4,003 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| VIDEO: Postgame Comments |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Nick Banks drove in four runs and four others homered to lead No. 23 Texas A&M past Penn State, 9-3, in non-conference baseball action Friday night in Blue Bell Park.
Right fielder Aaron Novak (Ambler, Pa.) led Penn State (0-4) offensively, hitting a two-run home run and going 2-for-3 on the night. Left fielder Greg Guers (Langhorne, Pa.) was also productive, going 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
LHP A.J. Minter (2-0) kept the Nittany Lions in check early as, despite five walks, he yielded just two hits to Guers and struck out nine in five scoreless innings. Texas A&M (5-0) also struck early offensively, as Banks drove in two runs with a single up the middle with two outs in the first inning, Blake Allemand led the second off with a home run and then Banks drove in two more in the third to build a 5-0 Aggie lead.
The Aggies built on their lead later, as Logan Nottebrook, who joined Banks and Allemand with a two-hit game, hit a two-run home run in the fifth for a 7-0 lead, and Logan Taylor and J.B. Moss homered in the sixth and eighth innings, respectively. Additionally, designated hitter Mitchell Nau went 3-for-3 with three runs scored.
All of the Nittany Lion scoring took place in the top of the eighth inning. Designated hitter Nick Riotto (Washington, Pa.) hit a sacrifice fly to snap A&M's 25-inning shutout streak, and then Novak followed with his first home run since 2013.
Both teams were strong defensively despite high winds, playing an error free game, with the Lions turning two double plays.
LHP Nick Hedge (Winnetka, Ill.) (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts in four-plus innings.
Penn State will face Texas A&M Saturday at 3:05 p.m. ET/2:05 p.m. CT to continue the three-game series. Sunday's game has been moved one hour earlier to 1:05 p.m. ET/12:05 p.m. CT due to the threat of inclement weather. Both games can be watched on SEC Network Plus, available through WatchESPN.