Beshears’ walk-off knock propels Northwestern baseball over Penn State 5-4
Despite trailing the Nittany Lions on three separate occasions, Northwestern rallied to beat Penn State 5-4 on Saturday, taking a 1-0 lead in the Big Ten series. With the win, the Wildcats maintained their undefeated record at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park and improved to 3-1 in conference play.
After going 0-4 with three strikeouts in his first four at-bats, Jay Beshears came through in the clutch, slapping a walk-off single into left field to score Ethan O’Donnell with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Following the hit, Northwestern players flooded the field and mobbed Beshears in shallow right field to celebrate the victory.
Penn State claimed an early lead in the first inning, plating a run on a Northwestern error, but the Wildcats responded by evening the score in the bottom of the second. Andrew Pinkston reached on an infield single, Ruben Fontes followed with a double, and Tony Livermore’s sacrifice fly brought Pinkston in.
Northwestern starter Sean Sullivan struggled to keep Penn State’s power hitters in the yard, yielding solo shots to Matt Wood and Johnny Piacentino in the third inning to fall behind 3-1. But his offense picked him up immediately, as Anthony Calarco crushed a two-run homer over the center field wall to tie the game in the bottom of the third.
Sullivan surrendered another solo home run in the fifth, but he completed five innings and struck out four Nittany Lions, exiting the game trailing 4-3.
The ‘Cats leveled the score once more in the bottom of the seventh. Ethan O’Donnell walked with one out, and Calarco continued his hot day at the plate with a run-scoring double, knotting the game at 4.
Coby Moe relieved Sullivan in the sixth and turned in a superb performance, striking out eight hitters in four scoreless innings. Moe retired Penn State in order in the top of the ninth, fanning two batters in the process. J.C. Santini singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and after O’Donnell reached on a fielder’s choice, Calarco singled to right field to set up the walk-off winner by Beshears.
Calarco’s four hits and three RBI led Northwestern, and Ruben Fontes added two doubles for the ‘Cats. The win was Northwestern’s 11th in their last 13 games, and with a 13-12 record, the Wildcats vaulted above the .500 mark for the first time this season.
Steven Miller took the loss for the Nittany Lions (11-16), dropping to 1-2 in 2022. Jaden Henline and Tyler Shingledecker each struck out six Northwestern batters on the mound, and Piacentino’s three hits led the offense.
The Wildcats and Nittany Lions will continue their three-game series with the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday.
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