May 3, 2015
| 8 | 5 |
| Medlar Field at Lubrano Park | University Park, Pa. | Attn: 1224 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| VIDEO: Postgame Comments |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A "blue collar" play by Penn State senior Ryan Richter (Wayne, Pa.) ignited a three-run eighth inning, as the Nittany Lions prevailed on Senior Day in a back-and-forth game, 8-5, to sweep Rutgers in Big Ten baseball action Sunday afternoon in Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. It was Penn State's first conference sweep since 2012, and extended the team's winning streak to four games.
The game saw three ties and three lead changes in the sixth through eighth innings. RHP Jack Anderson (4-3), who earned saves Friday and Saturday for Penn State (17-26, 5-12 B1G), pitched the final 1 1/3 innings to earn the win, yielding just a walk. Left fielder Greg Guers (Langhorne, Pa.) extended his hitting streak to 16 games with his third home run of the week and eighth of the season, while third baseman Tyler Kendall (Boynton Beach, Fla.) extended his hitting streak to nine, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Shortstop Jim Haley (Upper Darby, Pa,) and right fielder Aaron Novak (Ambler, Pa.) both went 2-for-4 with an RBI and walk each. Both of Haley's hits were doubles and he scored three runs, while Novak doubled, tripled and scored twice.
After losing a two-run lead in the seventh inning, Rutgers (15-31-1, 5-13 B1G) tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the eighth when a wild pitch and error allowed a run to score.
Richter pinch hit to lead off the bottom half for PSU, and his hustle on what appeared to be a routine groundout to second base allowed him to beat the throw by a step. Guers sacrificed him to second and Haley crushed a double to the deepest part of the park in left-center field to plate him for the go-ahead run. Novak followed with a triple and senior J.J. White (Lansdowne, Va.) doubled to drive in the final two runs.
The Lions had jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Guers sent the first pitch into the right field bleachers and Kendall added a sacrifice fly. However, RHP Gaby Rosa settled in and kept PSU scoreless for the next five innings. He left after the sixth, allowing just five hits, two runs and three walks with two strikeouts.
RHP Dakota Forsyth (Bethel Park, Pa.) cruised for the Lions until the top of the sixth inning when Rutgers third baseman Milo Freeman and shortstop Christian Campbell spoiled the shutout and tied the game with back-to-back RBI singles. Forsyth left after 5 1/3 innings, posting a line of nine hits, two runs, one walk and four strikeouts.
The Scarlet Knights added two runs in the seventh inning on a hit batsmen and walk with the bases loaded for a 4-2 advantage, but the lead was short-lived
The Rutgers bullpen struggled in the bottom half, throwing 10-straight balls to allow Guers and Haley to reach and place Novak in a 2-0 count. After a pitching change, Novak stuck with his plan to lay down a sacrifice bunt, and a throwing error by the pitcher on his bunt attempt allowed Guers to score. Haley then scored on a groundout and Kendall singled up the middle to score Novak and put the Lions ahead, 5-4.
Both teams used five pitchers each. Campbell (1-1), who started the game at shortstop, allowed the three runs in the eighth inning on four hits to suffer the loss.
Rutgers outhit Penn State, 14-10, as right fielder Tom Marcinczyk led five Scarlet Knights with multi-hit games by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. However, the Knights stranded 13 runners to the Lions 10.
Penn State will play its final six regular season games on the road, starting Friday at Michigan State.