April 21, 2015
| 15 | 5 |
| Schoonover Stadium | Kent, Ohio | Attn: 127 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| VIDEO: Postgame Comments |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
KENT, Ohio - Penn State scored nine runs in the first inning and Taylor Skerpon (Sayre, Pa.) went 4-for-5 as the Nittany Lions defeated Kent State, 15-5, in non-conference baseball action Tuesday evening in Schoonover Stadium.
Penn State (13-23) scored six runs before recording an out, sending 13 batters to the plate in the first. The Nittany Lions scored the 15 runs on 15 hits, seven walks and three errors. All but three were earned.
Skerpon drove in one run, doubled and scored twice amongst his career-best matching four hits to lead the PSU offense. Left fielder James Coates (Girard, Ohio) was one of four Lions to tally two RBIs and one of three with two hits. Right fielder Aaron Novak (Ambler, Pa.) doubled twice and drove in a run, and designated hitter Greg Guers (Langhorne, Pa.) extended his hitting streak to nine games and tallied an RBI.
Kent State (21-16) starting RHP John Birkbeck (0-1) failed to get an out, walking the first two batters of the game, hitting the third, and walking shortstop Jim Haley (Upper Darby, Pa.) to drive in the first run. First baseman J. J. White (Lansdowne, Va.) followed with a double to drive in two runs for 3-0 advantage.
A pitching change did little to stop the Lions. Centerfielder Ryan Richter (Wayne, Pa.) reached on an error, allowing two more runs to score for a 5-0 lead. With one out, Skerpon tallied an RBI-single and, later in the inning, Coates, Guers and Novak each tallied RBIs in their second at-bats of the inning for a 9-0 lead.
The Golden Flashes scored the next four runs to cut the deficit to five, getting one back in the bottom half of the first and adding three in the second on back-to-back home runs by third baseman Curtis Olvey and left fielder Conner Simonetti. That was as close as they would come though, as RHP Dakota Forsyth (1-1), yielded just one run on one hit and two walks with three strikeouts in five innings after entering at the start of the fourth inning.
Olvey went 3-for-3 to pace Kent State at the plate, while eight different pitchers were used on the mound.
Penn State added two insurance runs in the fifth, another in the sixth, and then pinch-hitter Nick Riotto (Washington, Pa,) blasted his first career home run with one on in the seventh for a 14-4 advantage. A run each for both teams in the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth concluded the scoring.
RHP Tom Mullin made his second career start for PSU. He allowed four runs on five hits and three walks.
The Nittany Lions will open their final homestand Friday at 6:30 p.m. against No. 8 Illinois. The three-game Big Ten series will continue Saturday at 2 p.m. and conclude Sunday starting at 10 a.m. The first two games will be streamed on BTN Plus, while the finale will be aired live on the Big Ten Network.
Fans planning to attend Friday and Saturday's games should allow extra time for heavy traffic due to the Garth Brooks concert taking place in the Bryce Jordan Center. Detailed parking information is available on GoPSUsports.com
Ticket information for all three games is available on GoPSUsports.com