Baseball Shuts Out Washington, 4-0, In Series Finale

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team clinched a series victory over Washington with a 4-0 win on Saturday afternoon at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Freshman Isaiah Shayter tossed five strong innings to set the tone and Jesse Jaconski and Avery Smith homered to help the Nittany Lions to a win on Senior Day.

 

The Nittany Lions pitched their second shutout of the 2026 season, joining a 5-0 win over Richmond on February 20. Penn State earned its first shutout against a Big Ten opponent since April 10, 2021 against Purdue (11-0).

 

Penn State improved to 15-32 overall (8-19 Big Ten), while Washington dropped to 22-29 overall (11-16 Big Ten).

 

Before the game, Penn State honored 14 seniors as part of Senior Day Presented by the Penn State Alumni Association: Michael Anderson, Jayden Davis, Joey DeMucci, Colin Fitzgerald, Jesse Jaconski, Kevin Karstetter, Dimond Loosli, Maddox McDonald, Bryce Molinaro, Logan Olson, Jack Porter, Skip Shenosky, Justin Turcovski and Nate Voss.

 

Isaiah Shayter earned the start for the Nittany Lions, firing five shutout innings. He allowed just three hits and two walks, while striking out five batters. Shayter recorded two strikeouts in the first and one each in the next three innings. He had two different stretches retiring five-straight batters.

 

Going back to his start against Oregon, Shayter has allowed just one run in his last 10.1 innings and posted his third start of 5+ innings in Big Ten play.

 

Dimond Loosli worked a scoreless inning, striking out one and walking two.

 

Ben DeMell tossed two shutout innings and struck out three batters. DeMell made his 79^th career pitching appearance, breaking a tie for fourth all-time at Penn State with Dakota Forsyth (78; 2014-17).

 

Mason Horwat worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out the game.

 

Hayden Lewis got the start for Washington, going 5.1 innings. He surrendered four runs on 10 hits. Lewis recorded one strikeout and one walk. Tommy Brandenberg tossed a scoreless inning before Jack Wade worked 1.1 innings shutout frames. Bryce Johnson recorded the final out of the eighth.

 

Penn State tallied four runs on 10 hits. Avery Smith had a career-high three hits, including a two-run homer. Jesse Jaconski homered for the second-straight day, adding a single and scoring three times. Seven Nittany Lions recorded at least one hit.

 

Washington recorded four hits and no extra-base hits. The Huskies never advanced a runner past second base.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Nittany Lions got on the board in the second. With one out, Jesse Jaconski bounced a single through the middle. Avery Smith followed with a line drive to right-center to put runners on the corners. Maddox McDonald dropped a perfect sacrifice bunt along the first base line to allow Jaconski to score. Penn State led 1-0.

 

Penn State added a run in the fourth. Leading off the inning, Jaconski launched the first pitch he saw over the wall in left. The 396-foot homer pushed PSU’s lead to 2-0.

 

The Nittany Lions plated two runs in the sixth. Jaconski worked a seven-pitch walk with one out. Avery Smith hammered a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left-center. Smith’s 417-foot blast extended Penn State’s lead to 4-0.

 

Up Next

Penn State travels to the Steel City to take on Pitt in a midweek matchup on Tuesday, May 12 at Charles L. Cost Field. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on ACCNX.

 

The Nittany Lions finish the regular season next weekend, May 14-16, at Maryland.