Northwestern bats go cold in 4-1 loss to Penn State
Following an emotional, walk-off win in the first game of a doubleheader, Northwestern cooled off in Game 2 and fell to Penn State 4-1 on Saturday afternoon. The loss was the team’s first at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park this season and snapped an eight-game win streak at home dating back to last year.
The ‘Cats left nine runners on base and had another runner thrown out at home plate attempting to score, missing out on several opportunities to tie the game after Penn State took the lead for good in the fifth inning.
“We got the walk-off (in Game 1), and after the 40 minutes in between, I’m not sure we were ready to play the way that we should be ready to play,” Northwestern head coach Josh Reynolds said after the game. “I don’t think we were as locked in as we should have been.”
The Wildcats spoiled an efficient and effective start from graduate transfer Michael Farinelli, who tossed eight innings of two-run ball. Farinelli eclipsed his season-high for innings pitched in a start, recording two more outs than he did last weekend at Indiana.
“My defense really helped me out today. I struck out one guy, so that means 23 outs were handled by the defense,” Farinelli said. “They really had my back today.”
Farinelli fired four scoreless innings in just 36 pitches to start his outing, and his offense handed him a slim lead in the bottom half of the fourth inning. The Wildcats loaded the bases with no outs on Anthony Calarco's single, Jay Beshears' walk and a sacrifice bunt from Bennett Markinson that resulted in a Nittany Lion error. But Penn State starter Kellan Tulio responded by striking out Vincent Bianchina, and after a run-producing groundout from Luke Tanner, Ruben Fontes grounded out to end the inning with Northwestern leading only 1-0.
The Nittany Lions answered with four hits in the top of the fifth off Farinelli, scoring two runs to take the lead. Anthony Steele’s single to center field ended up being the game-winning hit, as Northwestern failed to score the rest of the way.
Tulio and Penn State reliever Travis Luensmann held Northwestern’s lineup to five singles and one run and struck out 13 batters. Tulio logged five innings to tally the win, and Luensmann earned the save with four shutout frames.
Penn State tacked on two insurance runs against Wildcats reliever David Utagawa in the ninth, and Luensmann struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory.
“I think the approach from our guys was not where it needed to be, and we swung at a lot of balls and helped them out a little bit,” Reynolds said. “But (Penn State) made pitches when they had to, spinning breaking balls 3-2, and that’s tough when you’re not expecting that.”
Markinson produced the only multi-hit performance for the ‘Cats, who will look to bounce back in the deciding game of the series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT at Miller Park.
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Andrew Polk is a sportswriter and graduate student at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Polk is a graduate of Macalester College, where he played for the school's Division-III baseball team.