April 22, 2015
By Matt Allibone, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
KENT, Ohio. - There are some nights in baseball when runs are just hard to come by. Tuesday, however, was not one of those games for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions entered a midweek contest at Kent State having averaged just shy of nine runs in their 12 wins this season. Against the Flashes, it took them just one inning to reach that exact total, as they blew open the doors with nine in the first on their way to a convincing 15-5 win.
Not only did the game get the Lions back on track after three loses against Minnesota over the weekend, it also evened their season series with the Flashes, who topped Penn State 9-7 on April 1.
"Obviously Kent State is a good team and they play us hard," head coach Rob Cooper said. "It's good to see our guys get of to a good start after a tough weekend and put it behind us. I'm proud of our guys and we got on them early and it was great to see."
Right from the jump, the key for the Lions was being patient at the plate. After loading the bases with walks from James Coates and Greg Guers and a hit-by-pitch by Aaron Novak to start things off, Penn State got on the board when Jim Haley also worked a walk off pitcher John Birkbeck.
First baseman J.J. White then ripped a double that scored two and ended Birkbeck's evening before the junior recorded an out. While the score was already 3-0, it was just the beginning for the Lions.
Using timely hitting and taking advantage of three Kent State errors, the Lions batted around and tacked on six more runs in the inning. Taylor Skerpon, Coates and Novak all registered RBI hits after Ryan Richter drove in two on a grounder that resulted in a throwing error by second baseman Tim Dalporto.
"You know, it helped out that their pitcher struggled and hit and walked some guys, but as hitters we did a good job of not chasing and when they threw a good pitch not trying to do too much, just putting a good swing on the ball," Cooper said. "And we also created some offense because we ran the bases aggressive which forced them into making some bad throws."
In the first inning alone, the Lions scored more runs than they did in seven of their wins this season. Still, the Flashes didn't go away quietly, battling back with one in the first and three in the third to cut Penn State's lead to 9-4.
That proved to just be a bump in the road for the Lions, as they scored five runs between the fifth and the seventh and tacked on another in the ninth to complete the rout.
Although nine Nittany Lions registered at least one hit, the two players who really stood out were senior second baseman Taylor Skerpon and sophomore outfielder Nick Riotto.
Skerpon, better known for his glove than his bat, was on fire all night and finished 4 for 5 with a double and two RBIs. Riotto on the hand, made the most of his one at-bat as a pinch hitter by slamming his first career home run with a two-run shot in the seventh.
"It's good to see [Taylor] swinging the bat well," Cooper said. "He had some good at-bats against Minnesota, but I felt like he's been putting too much pressure on himself and trying to do too much since it's his last year. He did a great job tonight.
"That's something we feel [Riotto] can do. We've just been trying to have him use his lower half to get barrel on ball. It's not about hitting home runs but to me that wasn't a surprise to see him do that."
As much as offense ruled the day for the Nittany Lions, they did get a great performance out of the bullpen from Dakota Forsyth, who went five innings and gave up just one run and one hit.
The Lions will need more performances like that this weekend, when they face Illinois, the top team in the Big Ten and the No. 8 team in the country.
"[Forsyth's performance] was huge, you don't really realize, that in that game with the wind blowing out you need a pitcher who isn't afraid to start bats," Cooper said. "When the game was 9-4 for him to come in and sure things up, well that was really big for us. "