UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team dropped a 9-6 decision against Michigan on Saturday afternoon at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The Nittany Lions took a 6-5 lead into the seventh, but the Wolverines rallied for four runs and held onto the lead. Penn State is now 12-8 overall.
Jaden Henline got the start for the Nittany Lions, throwing four innings. He gave up five runs (three earned) on six hits and struck out two.
Mason Butash threw 2.2 frames in relief, allowing four runs (three earned) and six hits, while striking out one. Matt Morash threw two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, while striking out three. Ben DeMell got the final out of the ninth.
Kurt Barr started for Michigan, working six innings. Barr allowed six runs (five earned) on five hits. He struck out four and walked two. Will Rogers earned the save, throwing the final three innings, not allowing a run.
Penn State collected six runs on seven hits. Joe Jaconski tallied two hits, including a double, and two runs. Matt Maloney drove in two runs with a double. Bryce Molinaro added two hits, including an RBI single.
Michigan registered nine runs on 13 hits. Stephen Hrustich had two hits, including a homer, and two RBI. Collin Priest had a solo homer among two hits and scored twice. Rogers contributed two hits, including an RBI double, and two runs.
Penn State jumped on the board in the first. Joe Jaconski led off with a double to the right-center gap. He advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a sac fly by JT Marr to the warning track in center. Penn State led 1-0.
Michigan responded with three runs in the top of the second. Priest launched a leadoff homer to right. Will Rogers singled to right. Dylan Stanton followed with his own single to right, which was misplayed to allow Rogers to score and Stanton to go to third. Stanton scored on a sac fly to right by Cole Caruso.
The Nittany Lions answered with a run in the bottom half. With one out, Molinaro singled to right. He went to second on a wild pitch and to third on a throwing error. Grant Norris hit a line drive to right, which was caught, but allowed Molinaro to score on a sac fly. Penn State trailed 3-2 after two.
The Wolverines added two runs in the third. Hrustich sent a homer over the right field wall. Priest reached on a single. A fielding error let Rogers reach base with Priest going to second. A groundout moved the runners up to second and third. Another groundout, this time by Kyle Dernedde, plated Priest. Michigan led 5-2.
Penn State responded in the bottom of the third. Jaconski and Adam Cecere reached on back-to-back walks. A flyout by Marr moved Jaconski up to third. Bobby Marsh followed with a single to left to bring home Jaconski. Maloney then doubled to the wall in right to drive in Cecere and Marsh. PSU's fourth run of the inning scored on a single to center by Molinaro to bring in Maloney. Penn State held a 6-5 lead.
The score remained 6-5 until Michigan broke through in the seventh. Mitch Voit started the inning with a double to left and scored on a single by Hrustich. Priest was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Rogers doubled to right, which resulted in Hrustich, Priest and Rogers scoring after a throwing error went out of play. The Wolverines took a 9-6 lead.
The Nittany Lions put two runners on in each of the seventh and eighth innings, but could not get the runs home.
On Sunday, the series finale is set for 1 p.m. and features postgame kids run the bases.
All home games are free admission for all ages.
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.
