UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team (15-21) fell 5-0 on senior day to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday afternoon in the third game of the four-game series.
The Nittany Lions will play Rutgers for the seventh time this season tomorrow at 2:02 p.m. ET.
How it Happened
The Scarlet Knights struck first with two runs in top of the first. Rutgers had three softly hit singles that allowed for the first run of the game to score. An error on a fly ball loaded the bases for Rutgers. A walk to the next Scarlet Knights hitter forced in a run and gave Rutgers a 2-0 lead.
Rutgers added another run in the top of the second. A lead off double and a two-out single plated the run to make it 3-0 Scarlet Knights.
Justin Williams led off the bottom of the second as the Nittany Lions attempted to cut into the deficit. The next three Penn Stater's were retired to end the frame.
Starter Kyle Virbitsky settled in after allowing runs in the first two innings. A one-out single was erased by Virbitsky and the Nittany Lions defense on a 5-4-3 double play.
The Penn State offense was held in check through the third and the fourth, going in order in both frames.
Josh Spiegel continued his strong weekend with a single in the bottom of the fifth. Spiegel's single was the only offense of the frame as the Nittany Lions looked to erase the three-run deficit.
Virbitsky worked another scoreless inning in the sixth, inducing his fourth double play of the game to end the inning.
Rutgers added an insurance run in the seventh, scoring on a sac fly to make it 4-0.
In the bottom half of the inning, Johnny Piacentino singled with one out, followed by another single by Spiegel to put runners on first and second with just one down.
The next two Nittany Lions were retired and the scoring threat was ended for Penn State.
Another scoring chance for the Nittany Lions came in the bottom of the eighth. Tayven Kelley singled through the left side and Matt Wood walked with two out in the inning.
Kelley and Wood advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. A sharp groundout was snagged by the Rutgers shortstop and the final out was recorded in the inning.
The Scarlet Knights added a run in the top of the ninth to extend the lead to 5-0.
Penn State put two runners on with one out in the ninth but could not find its way onto the scoreboard and fell 5-0.
Up Next
The Nittany Lions will look to take the series tomorrow on Big Ten Network at 2:02 p.m. ET.