LEXINGTON, Va. – Longwood baseball matched up with Penn State for the first time in team history on Saturday at Gray-Minor Stadium, and the Big Ten's Nittany Lions (4-1) powered past the Lancers (1-4) 11-1 and 10-0 in a doubleheader.
The weekend was originally scheduled to be played in Farmville, but due to the lingering effects of the winter storm on Prince Edward County, the three-game series was shifted to a neutral site at Virginia Military Institute.
Penn State's starting duo of Ryan DeSanto (2-0) and Mason Horwat (2-0) continue their strong start to the season, as they have combined to allow one earned run between the two of them through their two starts each.
"Penn State is a really well-coached ball club with some quality players," said Longwood Head Coach
Ray Noe. "They did a great job exploiting some of our misses today on the mound and got after our hitters in the zone. We need to continue to do a better job of playing team offense. We are struggling to find flow and rhythm right now, but I though some of the younger guys who got opportunities did a really good job of putting together some competitive at bats."
Game 1: Penn State 11, Longwood 1 (Eight Innings)
In the first game, Penn State plated four early runs, but Longwood hung around and represented itself well.
Myles Webb knocked home
Juice Tobin with an RBI single in the third inning to put the Lancers on the board.
However, Penn State answered with a three-run home run by Paxton Cling to make it 7-1, and that put the game out of reach. The Nittany Lions extended the lead to 10 runs in the eighth to end the game.
DeSanto earned the win on the mound, striking out eight against two hits and a run and no walks in four innings of work.
Alek Elges (0-2) took the loss for Longwood. He pitched five innings, giving up seven runs on six hits and three walks against three strikeouts.
Game 2: Penn State 10, Longwood 0 (Seven Innings)
In game two, it was the Mason Horwat show for Penn State.
The sophomore right-hander was sterling through six innings to earn the win. He gave up two hits and three walks while striking out five to earn the win.
Guillermo Garcia, Jr. got off to a solid start for Longwood, tossing two scoreless innings, but Kling swatted a solo shot in the third to give Penn State the lead. Garcia took the loss for Longwood. He pitched five innings while giving up six runs on seven hits and a walk against four strikeouts.
Joe Jaconski swatted a two-run blast in the fourth, and Penn State started to pull away in the final three innings for the final tally.
Jayson Nash picked up his first collegiate hit for Longwood in the contest.
Longwood returns to action on Sunday for the series finale, which is slated to start at 1 p.m.
#GoWood #HorsePower
