CARY, N.C. – The Penn State baseball team closed out opening weekend with a 12-4 win over Army on Sunday at Coleman Field at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 4-0 lead and cruised to a win behind a strong start by freshman Mason Butash.
Penn State finished the weekend with a 3-1 record, including two wins over Army.
Mason Butash made his collegiate debut, getting the start for the Nittany Lions. Butash struck out the side in the first to set the tone. He went three shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out five.
Mason Horwat entered to start the fourth. Horwat tossed two innings, allowing four runs on four hits. He struck out three and walked two. Anthony Steele took over to start the sixth and threw 2.2 scoreless frames, allowing just one hit and striking out five. David Lee finished the game, going 1.1 shutout innings and striking out one.
Dom Trippi started for Army. He did not record an out while allowing four runs (one earned) on four walks. Robbie Penswick replaced Trippi. Penswick went four innings, giving up six runs on six hits. Joel Rubin took over to finish the fifth, going 1.1 frames. He gave up no runs and one hit. Andrew Berg allowed two runs on three hits over two innings before Mark Abell finished the ninth.
Penn State collected 12 runs on 10 hits. Matt Maloney drove in four runs, including a two-run homer, and scored twice. Tayven Kelley launched his second homer of the year and tallied four RBI, while scoring two runs. Adam Cecere had two hits, including a double, and scored three runs.
Maloney finished opening weekend with a .625 average (5-of-8) and 11 RBI.
Army registered four runs on six hits. Sam Ruta notched two hits, including a two-run homer. Chris Barr had two hits and scored two runs. William Parker drove in two runs.
Penn State got on the board with four runs in the first. Joe Jaconski and Kyle Hannon drew walks to start the inning. J.T. Marr reached on an error to load the bases. Bryce Molinaro and Cecere worked back-to-back bases loaded walks to score Jaconski and Hannon. Maloney lifted a fly ball to right for a sac fly to bring home Marr. A groundout by Kelley plated Molinaro for the fourth run.
The Blue and White added a run in the second. Grant Norris was hit by a pitch and then stole second. A single by Jaconski moved Norris to third. A ground double play allowed Norris to score and extend PSU's lead to 5-0.
Penn State plated two more runs in the third. With one out, Cecere drew a walk. Maloney then snuck a fly ball inside the right field foul pole for a two-run homer. Penn State led 7-0.
Army answered with two runs in the fourth. A single by Barr and walks by Coleson Titus and Ainsworth loaded the bases with two outs. Parker dropped a single into left-center to bring home two runs. Army cut its deficit to 7-2.
The Black Knights got two more runs in the fifth. With two outs, Barr singled before Ruta blasted a home run to right.
Penn State answered with three runs in the bottom half. Cecere started the inning with a. single to right. Maloney drew a walk to put runners on first and second. On a 3-1 pitch, Kelley launched a fly ball over the wall in left-center for a three-run shot. The Nittany Lions led 10-4 through five.
Penn State added two runs in the seventh. Cecere began the inning with a double to right and moved up to third on a wild pitch. A grounder up the middle by Maloney brought home Cecere. Kelley and Billy Gerlott had back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. Kelley scored on a fielder's choice to extend Penn State's lead to 12-4.
The Nittany Lions travel to California to take on Stanford on February 23-25. The Cardinal went 44-20 in 2023, winning its NCAA Regional and Super Regional to advance to the College World Series. Stanford begins the year ranked No. 15 by Baseball America.
For updates on the Penn State baseball team, please follow @pennstatebase on X and Instagram.
The 2024 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
Mason Butash