Early Rally Dooms Baseball at Penn State

Friday, May 14

University Park, Pa.

2:00 PM

Rutgers

17-18, 0

Penn State

14-20, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Rutgers	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	3	5	0
Penn State	0	5	0	0	0	1	0	1	X	7	10	2

Photo by: Eric Miller

May 14 | Baseball

Box Score Statistics

Scarlet Knights drop series opener

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State (14-20) scored five runs in the second inning and held off a middle-inning surge from Rutgers baseball (17-18) to claim a 7-3 win Friday at Medlar Field. The Scarlet Knights had entered the day with a five-game winning streak on the road.

"We gave up five runs on six hits in one inning," head coach Steve Owens said. "We tried to claw back in the middle of the game and made it 5-3, but then they hit a home run. The whole game swung in one inning and it was pretty even from there. We were not able to put together a big inning. They got hits with guys on base and we didn't. They made pitches and we didn't. That's why we lost today."

After the five-run second, Rutkowski posted three zeroes to allow RU to cut into the deficit. The left-hander struck out four and took over sole possession of third place in the program's record books with 210 career strikeouts.

Chris Brito knocked in two to increase his team-leading total to 33 RBIs. Richie Schiekofer also drove in one and reached on a single and a walk. Kevin Welsh extended his hitting streak to eight games.

Bailey Dees earned the win for the Nittany Lions with two earned runs against in six innings. Mason Mellott picked up a three-inning save. The game lasted an even two hours.

SCORING

B2 | Justin Williams hit a solo homer and four runs crossed with two down to give Penn State a 5-0 lead.
T4 | Brito lined a two-out RBI single to plate Ryan Lasko.
T5 | Josh Rodriguez led off drawing a walk, moved up on single by Peter Serruto and a sacrifice bunt by Mike Nyisztor, and scored on a grounder from Schiekofer to make it 5-2.
T6 | Danny DiGeorgio laced a leadoff double and advanced on a fly ball. Brito then executed a safety squeeze to cut the deficit to two.
B6 | Josh Spiegel hit a solo homer for the Nittany Lions.
B8 | Spiegel doubled to right field to drive in a run and make it 7-3.

UP NEXT

Game two of the four-game series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. Watch on Big Ten Network+ or listen on ScarletKnights.com.

Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (@RutgersBaseball), Instagram (@rutgersbaseball) and Facebook (/BaseballRU). For additional updates, please download the Scarlet Knights App via the app store or play store.