Penn State beat Purdue on Saturday afternoon

It was Ice Cream Day on Saturday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park and the only thing sweeter than Penn State Baseball’s flavor, “Grand Slam Cookie Dough,” was the sweet victory Penn State pulled off.

The Nittany Lions secured a weekend series win over the Purdue Boilermakers with a 13-6 win on Saturday. They did so in their new cream-colored uniforms, topped off with a throwback hat. Head coach Mike Gambino said the team was fired up to see the new jerseys.

“The boys were very excited,” Gambino said. The second-year head coach also shared that the team saw them for the first time on Thursday, and they had help from multiple people, including former players, to make the uniforms possible.

Penn State earned its victory in comeback fashion after trailing 4-0 before even coming to bat. Mason Horwat struggled in his start, allowing four earned runs on four hits in the first inning. The sophomore right-hander came out to start the second inning, but faced just three batters and recorded one out before being replaced by Ben DeMell.

DeMell couldn’t have had an easier end to the second: one pitch, two outs. With runners on first and second, Logan Sutter skied a ball towards shallow centerfield. Brandon Rogers, on second, prematurely took off for third before Paxton Kling made the catch on the run and fired to second to record the double play.

Evidently, Kling’s defensive gem is all it took to spark the offense. Jack Porter got things started with a walk after working the count full. Then the Jaconski brothers kept it going. Jesse ripped a double, setting up runners in scoring position for his brother Joe, who singled to score Penn State’s first run of the game.

Joe Jaconski took off to steal second, but the throw from catcher Houston Russell sailed into center field, allowing Jesse to score and Joe to advance to third. He crossed the plate on a single from Joey DeMucci. Kling capped off the scoring with an RBI single, evening the score at four.

“That was a huge turning point in the game,” Gambino said.

In the third, the Nittany Lions added to their lead on a two-run home run from Jesse Jaconski, his ninth of the season.

You’ve heard of the Bash Brothers, but in the fourth inning it was double-trouble from the Jaconski brothers. With runners on the corners and one out, Jesse Jaconski ripped a ball to right for an RBI ground-rule double. Joe Jaconski matched his brother’s performance with a double of his own that brought in two. He then stole third, and a single from Patrick Graham scored Penn State’s 10th run.

“We just love it when they’re not brawling each other,” Gambino jokingly said of their chemistry. “No, they’re great. Their relationship’s awesome.”

Gambino also said he enjoyed to see the offensive production from Joe.

“Joe went through a rough stretch offensively, and for him to start doing (this), it’s like he’s back. I walked up (to him) and you can see the way he’s going to the plate, the at-bats he’s having- and that’s not just the results- and he’s back to playing baseball and he’s one of the guys that makes our team go and they’re responding to what he’s doing,” Gambino said.

Entering Friday’s 10-2 win over Purdue, Joe was a combined 0-11 with five strikeouts in the series loss to USC and 13-3 loss to Delaware. Saturday was the second time this season he drove in three runs, the last coming on March 9 against Indiana.

Together, the Jaconski brothers combined for a 5-8 performance with six RBIs and five runs scored, with all of Jesse’s hits being for extra-bases.

“(Mom and Dad are) probably very happy today, we finally got it going,” Joe Jaconski said. “I couldn't do too much. He went up top there and went deep so I had to get something over him today,” Jaconski said of he and his brother’s RBI doubles.

While the Penn State offense was putting runs on the board, the bullpen did it’s job to keep Purdue’s runs off of it.

After the Boilermakers plated four runs in the first, Ben DeMell, Anthony Steele and Chase Renner combined for 5.1 innings of four-hit shutout baseball, keeping Purdue scoreless from the second through the seventh inning.

Purdue eventually scored a pair of runs in the eighth thanks to a defensive mishap in the outfield. With two runners on to start the inning, Brandon Anderson hit a single to center. What is usually a routine play for Kling, he instead misplayed the ball and booted it past Jesse Jaconski, who was backing up on the play.

Penn State answered quickly in its half of the eighth. Kling drove in his second run of the game and later scored to make it a 12-6 ballgame. Bryce Molinaro scored the final run of the afternoon on a dropped-third strike from Porter. It was a close play at first and Molinaro never stopped running from second.

With this win, the Nittany Lions have won their last two straight, and have won their first Big Ten series since their sweep over Minnesota from April 4 to April 6. They improve their overall record to 24-13 on the year and have won at least four series against conference opponents for the first time since 2012.

“This (win) credit goes to that leadership in that clubhouse,” Gambino said.

Up Next:

Penn State and Purdue conclude their series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. As always, kids 12-and-under round the bases post-game.

Dan Studer is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him please email dbs5866@psu.edu.