UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team (10-18) topped Michigan State (12-18) 7-6 in the first game of the three-game series Friday night. Junior Bailey Dees picked up his third win of the season and Mason Mellott collected the save.
Penn State and Michigan State will be back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET.
How it Happened
Dees held the Spartans scoreless through his first two innings of work on Friday evening. After a perfect top of the first, Dees worked around two baserunners in the top of the second.
With a one-out single and a hit by pitch, Dees struck out the next two Spartans to keep Michigan State off the scoreboard.
Justin Williams worked a leadoff walk and Johnny Piacentino singled to put runners on first and second. Josh Spiegel laid down a sac bunt to advance Williams and Piacentino to second and third.
Curtis Robison followed with a groundout to second to score Williams. A two-out double by Parker Hendershot easily scored Piacentino to make it 2-0 Nittany Lions.
Michigan State cut the lead to 2-1 after a run in the top of the third. The Spartans took the lead in the top of the fourth with a two-run inning to make it 3-2.
Penn State immediately responded in the bottom of the frame. Two doubles by Williams and Piacentino opened the inning for the Nittany Lions. Another groundout by Robison scored Williams to tie the game at 3-3.
One inning later, Jay Harry doubled to right center and scored on a single by Gavin Homer to give Penn State the lead. Homer would later score on an error by the Spartans to give Penn State a 5-3 lead.
Michigan State trimmed the lead to 5-4 after a Nittany Lions throwing error allowed a run to score after a single with a runner on first.
The Nittany Lions would extend their lead back to two with a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Mason Mellott entered the game in the eighth and got the first two Spartans on strikeouts. A two-out triple and a single scored a run for Michigan State to cut the Penn State lead to 6-5.
In the bottom of the eighth, Spiegel led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on a Robison double.
Hendershot singled to right center to score Spiegel and push the lead back to two.
The Spartans put runners on the corners with one out in the top of the ninth. An infield single plated a run and put the go ahead run on first with one down. Mellott would get a fly out and then a strikeout looking to end the game and give Penn State the win.
NOTES
Gavin Homer extended his reached base streak to 18 games.
Curtis Robison now has 10 doubles on the season, tops on the team.