Penn State, lifted by Wood's 3-run blast and superb pitching, secures Big Ten Tournament opening-round win

Iowa’s pitchers opened the first set of the Big Ten Tournament tying a record for strikeouts in a game with 17. Penn State catcher Matt Wood was rung up for two of them out of his four at-bats for the game.

But in the top of the sixth inning in Omaha on Thursday morning, the First Team All-Big Ten performer with the conference batting title unleashed fury. Enjoying two runners on with a 3-2 count, Wood sent Duncan Davitt’s pitch into the Nebraska stratosphere.

With a 3-run launch beyond the right-field stands, Wood helped deliver a 5-2 win for Penn State in the opening round of the conference tournament. Backed by a lights-out pitching performance from starter Tyler Shingledecker and reliever Travis Luensmann, the two combining to give up just two hits, Penn State earned its first Big Ten Tournament win since 2008 in its first appearance in the tournament since 2012.

“The biggest thing was sticking with the plan, trusting the guys behind us, and just filling up the zone,” Shingledecker told the BTN following the game. “That was the biggest thing. I absolutely love this team. I love being around them and just trusting them behind me made it a little bit easier filling it up.”

How Penn State won its first conference tournament game since 2008

Fill it up, indeed.

In five and two-thirds innings, Shingledecker silenced the bats of the three-seeded Hawkeyes. Getting Penn State to the bottom of the third with a cushion thanks to a two-run RBI single from teammate Anthony Steele, Shingledecker faced his first jam of the game. Walking Ben Wilmes then giving up a single to Cade Moss after a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly to right field put the Hawkeyes on the scoreboard.

It wouldn’t last, though. 

Able to secure a ground-out and fly ball to close the inning, Shingledecker would breeze through the next two innings, striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth. Backed by Wood’s homer in the top of the sixth, then, Shingledecker was pulled after giving up a walk with two outs. 

In relief, Luensmann found himself in a jam, a Penn State throwing error allowing Iowa’s second run to score. But, putting down Sher with a 3-2 strikeout to end the frame, it’d propel the Nittany Lions into the seventh.

With Penn State’s bats going cold in the final three innings, Luensmann at times found himself in a tenuous spot the rest of the way. Twice Iowa left a baserunner on board in the bottom of the seventh and eighth. 

But, with a clean bottom of the ninth including two more strikeouts to give Penn State’s staff a 15-strikeout game itself, the Nittany Lions moved into the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Up next

The win marked a milestone for the six-seed Nittany Lions in a few ways. The first trip to the Big Ten Tournament since 2012, for manager Rob Cooper, the conference tournament appearance was also his first in his nine seasons with the program.

Advancing to play the winner of the 7/2 matchup between Purdue and Rutgers on Friday, Shingledecker offered his take on what the win meant to the Penn State baseball program.

“It’s tremendous. It’s such a surreal feeling to be here, especially being a senior,” he said. “This my fourth year. Just where this team has come from, hats off to Coop. Unbelievable person, and a great coach, and he deserves to win. It’s just a great feeling to be in the winner’s bracket especially now to get that first win.”

Penn State will play next on Friday morning, 40 minutes after the conclusion of the day’s opening game at 10 a.m.