April 30, 2015
| 8 | 7 |
| Medlar Field at Lubrano Park | University Park, Pa. | Attn: 1089 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| VIDEO: Postgame Comments |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A perfectly executed hit-and-run in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Jim Haley (Upper Darby, Pa.) from third base on an infield single by Ryky Smith (York, Pa.), giving Penn State an 8-7 victory and the home-and-home series sweep over Pittsburgh in non-conference baseball action Wednesday night in Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Penn State (14-26) was one strike away from sealing a 7-5 victory in the top of the ninth, but Pittsburgh (16-26) first baseman Eric Hess singled to right field to drive in two runs, tying the game at 7-7.
Haley led the bottom of the ninth off with an infield single to short, was sacrificed to second by first baseman J.J. White (Lansdowne, Va.), and advanced to third on a bloop single to right by centerfielder Ryan Richter (Wayne, Pa.), giving Smith runners on the corners with just one out. It was Smith's first at-bat of the game, as he had entered in the seventh as a pinch runner, but delivered with a sharply hit ball to the shortstop that also ended his 0-for-24 skid at the plate. The ball was bobbled, but it did not matter, as Haley's jump at third was too much, regardless.
Penn State totaled 15 hits in the game, of which all were singles with the exception of Greg Guers' (Langhorne, Pa.) solo home run in the eighth inning. Ten of the 11 Nittany Lion batters used in the game recorded a hit, with the lone exception being catcher Nick Graham (Chambersburg, Pa,), who drew the Lions' only two walks on the night. Led by Haley's 3-for-4 night, left fielder James Coates (Girard, Ohio), Guers and third baseman Tyler Kendall (Boynton Beach, Fla.) also enjoyed multi-hit nights with two each.
Conversely, seven of Pitt's 13 hits on the night went for extra bases. Seven of nine batters recorded at least one hit and six posted two-hit nights, led by right fielder Boo Vazquez, who homered and tripled with three RBIs. However, four errors in the field proved costly in spotting PSU a pair of unearned runs.
Vazquez started the scoring with a two-run home run in the first inning, but RHPs Tom Mullin (Springfield, Pa.), Sal Biasi (Hazleton Township, Pa.) and Jack Anderson (Evanston, Ill.) kept the Panthers scoreless over the next five innings.
The Lions tied the game with a run each in the second and third innings, and a pair of throwing errors by centerfielder Aaron Schnurbusch led to the go-ahead run scoring in the fifth. An RBI-single by Coates in the sixth, gave PSU a 4-2 lead.
The Pitt bats heated up again though in the seventh. Vazquez drove in a run with an RBI-triple, and he scored on a groundout to tie the game at 4-4. However, PSU answered in the bottom half as White drove in his second run of the night and later scored on a dropped fly ball. A sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth pulled Pitt within one, 6-5, but Guers' sixth home run of the season in the bottom half gave the Lions an important insurance run.
RHP Jared Fagnano (1-2) attempted to post his first career save in the bottom of the ninth, but yielded two singles to lead the frame off before retiring the next two batters. He worked Hess into a 1-2 count, but surrendered a single with both runners having previously advanced into scoring position to force the bottom of the ninth/
RHP Rich Condeelis (0-1) suffered the loss, pitching the eighth inning and the ninth and yielding two runs on three hits with two strikeouts.
Penn State concludes its home slate with a three-game series against Big Ten foe Rutgers beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m.