April 14, 2017
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| Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium | College Park, Md. | 731 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| Video: Coach Cooper Postgame |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
COLLEGE PARK, Md. ââ'¬" Penn State RHP Sal Biasi (Hazle Township, Pa.) carried a one-hitter into the ninth, but home runs on back-to-back pitches with one out gave Maryland a 2-1 victory over the Nittany Lions in Big Ten baseball action Friday evening in Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium.
Biasi (4-4) finished with the first complete game for Penn State (12-21, 1-6 B1G) since 2014, going a career-high 8 1/3 innings and yielding the two runs on three hits and a walk with six strikeouts. Biasi was trying to protect the lead the Nittany Lions had maintained since catcher Ryan Sloniger (Punxsutawney, Pa.) led the fifth inning off with a solo home run.
Centerfielder Zach Jancarski and first baseman Brandon Gum were the heroes for Maryland (22-11, 7-3 B1G). With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Jarcanski hit a solo shot in a 1-2 count just over the left field fence to tie the game. Gum then slugged the first pitch he saw over the left field wall to end the game. It was the fourth at-bat for both, who were one and two in the Terrapins' lineup.
Gum, the second batter of the game, singled to left in the first inning for what was Maryland's only hit prior to the home runs.
Maryland RHP Brian Shaffer also went 8 1/3 innings, yielding one run on four hits and a walk with 11 strikeouts. However, it was RHP Andrew Miller (2-1) that earned the win on just four pitches, striking out one while a base-stealer was thrown out.
Shaffer's only mistake came in the fifth. Hitting in a rare hitter's count, Sloniger led the fifth inning off with a home run to right field. It was his first home run of the season and Penn State's 17th, giving the Nittany Lions one more than they had in all of 2016.
The only time more than one runner was on base in the first six innings was the top of the first when two Lions reached, doing so on a hit by pitch and an error. The Nittany Lions other three hits on the evening came from centerfielder Jordan Bowersox (Winter Springs, Fla.), who singled to left in the third, second baseman Christian Helsel, who singled to right in the seventh, and right fielder Braxton Giavedoni, (Punxsutawney, Pa.), who singled up the middle in the top of the ninth.
Penn State and Maryland will continue the series Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Season, flex and single-game ticket options for the 2017 Penn State baseball season in Medlar Field at Lubrano Park are now on sale at GoPSUsports.com or by calling the Medlar Field at Lubrano Park ticket office at 814-272-1711. Ask about the hospitality suite option for season ticket holders.
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