Nittany Lions come from behind to beat the Golden Gophers in series opener

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- In the opening innings of Friday's series opener between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Nittany Lions struggled to bring their runners home. Penn State left a total of eight runners on base through five innings and found itself down by three heading into the sixth.

However, later in the contest the Nittany Lions finally found their breakthrough scoring two runs in the sixth and seventh innings and three runs in the eighth. All in all, Penn State walked away from the game with a 7-3 comeback victory.

Penn State head coach Mike Gambino discussed adjustments the team made to their hitting approach, saying, “The focus has to and did go back to putting quality at-bats together, back to stringing them together and then you know, you go two-two-three.”

Minnesota quickly took the lead in this game, scoring a run in the first inning before adding two more in the third. However, starting pitcher Mason Horwat settled into the game tossing four and two-thirds innings and the bullpen pitched a lights-out game holding the Golden Gophers scoreless past the third inning.

Outfielder Tayven Kelley applauded the pitching staff for keeping Penn State in this game, saying “When they come in and shut the door like that, it’s what we need them to do.”

Coach Gambino knew that his inaugural season with the Nittany Lions would have its challenges, saying “This was never going to be smooth sailing, and that's fine, like I said we’re embracing it and we’re loving it.”

And the Penn State head coach credits the leaders in his dugout for rallying the team through rough patches, especially in the first few innings of this game. When Minnesota took a 3-0 lead early in the game there were some rumblings from the Nittany Lions dugout about the poor performances.

However, the leaders of the Nittany Lions ball club stepped up and steered the team back on course with head coach Gambino saying, “I think it was after the third I kind of watched like, do I need to address something here? And we saw the leadership say what they needed to say to right the ship, and that's why I was really, really proud of the boys tonight.”

The Nittany Lions currently sit in ninth place in the Big Ten standings, just outside playoff contention. With the win, Penn State improves to 7-9 in conference play with eight Big Ten games left before the tournament.

The team is in a similar position as last year. In 2023 the Nittany Lions had a Big Ten record of 6-10 after 16 conference games. Last year, however, Penn State collapsed losing six of its last seven Big Ten games finishing second to last in the conference.

But coach Gambino has instilled a new mindset into the ball club. To his team, Penn State is already playing playoff baseball with the coach saying, “It’s always playoff baseball at this time. Let’s just get used to an understanding that this is who we’re going to be.”

Owen Cameros is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email ohc5024@psu.edu.