PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Penn State baseball team dropped a 10-0 decision at Rutgers on Saturday evening at Bainton Field. The Scarlet Knights set the tone with a six-run first inning. Penn State is now 24-17 overall, while Rutgers improved to 29-18.
The Nittany Lions are now 6-10 in Big Ten play and the Scarlet Knights are 10-7.
Jaden Henline made his seventh start of the season for the Nittany Lions, pitching two-thirds of an inning. Henline allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits. Steven Miller finished the first and went 3.1 frames, giving up four runs on four hits. Miller struck out four batters and walked one.
Ben DeMell threw two shutout innings, allowing one hit, and struck out one. Carson Kohls fired a scoreless seventh. Kellan Tulio threw a scoreless eighth and struck out one.
Drew Conover got the start for Rutgers and threw seven scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and four walks, while striking out nine. Grant Besser tossed two scoreless innings and struck out three.
Penn State recorded two hits. Bobby Marsh and Johnny Piacentino had base knocks. Piacentino extended his hit streak to 14 games.
Thomas Bramley drew a walk, his 38th of the season. He sits in sole possession of fifth in a season at Penn State, breaking a tie with James Coates (37; 2016) and C.J. Sichler (37; 1986). He now sits one walk behind Landon Nakata (39; 2008) and Shawn Fagan (39; 2000) for third place.
Rutgers scored 10 runs on 11 hits. Evan Sleight had a double and drove in two runs, while Trevor Cohen had a single and two RBI. Ryan Lasko and High Pinkney each had two hits, including a double, and an RBI, while Lasko scored two runs.
The Scarlet Knights plated six runs in the first. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer and Lasko reached on back-to-back singles. A grounder by Chris Brito was mishandled to load the bases. Sleight lined a double to left-center to bring home Kuroda-Grauer and Lasko. Cohen grounded out to short, but allowed Brito to score. Jordan Sweeney chopped a grounder through the left side to plate Sleight. Pinkney doubled to center to score Sweeney. Two batters later, Andy Axelson singled to left to bring home Pinkney. Rutgers led 6-0.
The Nittany Lions threatened to score in the top of the second. Marsh led off the inning with a single to left. Two batters later, Piacentino lined a base hit to left. However, a fly out and a strikeout ended the inning.
Rutgers added two runs in the bottom half of the second. Lasko started the inning with a walk. Brito launched a fly ball to center, which bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double to put runners at second and third. A wild pitch allowed Lasko to score and Brito to move to third. Two batters later, a fly ball to center by Cohen resulted in a sac fly as Brito crossed the plate. Rutgers pushed its lead to 8-0.
The Scarlet Knights scored two runs in the third. Axelson and Kuroda-Grauer were hit by pitches to begin the frame. Lasko landed a fly ball inside the right-field line for a double as Axelson scored. A groundout by Brito allowed Kuroda-Grauer to cross the plate. Rutgers extended its lead to 10-0.
Penn State got two runners on in the fourth. With two outs, Grant Norris was hit by a pitch. Piacentino worked a four-pitch walk to put runners on first and second. A fly out to center by Josh Spiegel concluded the inning.
The Nittany Lions got two batters on base in the fifth. Anthony Steele reached on an error to start the inning. With two outs, Bramley held off on a 3-1 pitch to draw a walk. A grounder on the right side by Jay Harry was snagged by a diving first baseman and flipped to first for the final out of the inning.
Sunday's series finale is set for 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on B1G+.
For updates on the Penn State baseball team, please check @pennstatebase on Twitter and Instagram.
Season and single game tickets for the 2023 Penn State baseball season are available here.
The 2023 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
