The Penn State baseball team defeated Rutgers 14-13 on April 19 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, holding off a late comeback from the Scarlet Knights. The Nittany Lions built an early lead of 13-2 by the sixth inning before Rutgers narrowed the gap to just one run.
The win brings Penn State’s overall record to 11-26 and their Big Ten conference record to 5-13. Rutgers, who won games on Friday and Saturday to take the series, now holds a record of 20-20 overall and is 6-12 in conference play.
Isaiah Shayter started for Penn State, pitching four innings with two runs allowed and four strikeouts. Dimond Loosli contributed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen. Kyle Emmons secured the save by pitching the final inning and a third, giving up one run. Offensively, Bryce Molinaro led with three hits including two home runs and four runs batted in. Michael Anderson added a double and a homer with three RBIs, while Spencer Barnett had three hits including two doubles and a solo home run.
The Nittany Lions hit five home runs during the game, including back-to-back-to-back homers in the fourth inning—a feat not achieved by Penn State since at least 2004. Molinaro’s performance marked his sixth career multi-homer game; he also surpassed Chris Netwall for second all-time in career home runs at Penn State with his 34th and 35th homers.
Rutgers tallied thirteen runs on eighteen hits. Trey Wells went four-for-five with two home runs and five RBIs for the Scarlet Knights. Julius Rosado added a three-run triple as part of Rutgers’ late surge.
Penn State will next host Bucknell on Tuesday, April 21 for Dollar Dog Night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
