How Luke Combs Led to Penn State Baseball’s Historic Postseason Run

For many years, State College has been able to bring in big names for music concerts, such as Bruce Springsteen and Denzel Curry. On April 27, Happy Valley was proud to welcome Luke Combs to Beaver Stadium, a place the university has wanted to turn into a venue for concerts. The crowd packed into the stadium on a cool Saturday afternoon, and the concert was a smash hit. Lots opened at noon, and the concert began at 5:45 pm. It was as crowded on the field as it was in the stands, as fans took up half of the venue’s bleachers. One could even say there was a football game happening there because of the amount of people.

On the other hand, the Penn State baseball team was gearing up for Game 2 of a three-game set at home against Minnesota. After coming back late to win 7-3 on Friday, the Nittany Lions took the field at noon on Saturday. It was originally slated to be a 2pm first pitch, but the concert forced the Nittany Lions to play earlier. Penn State struck first, with a Grant Norris inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the 4th. They were shut down until the bottom of the 9th, now down 5-1. Joe Jaconski hit an RBI single to get run #2, and JT Marr drove in 2 with a single to right field. It came down to Adam Cecere, who ended up striking out to lose the game. The concert didn’t completely drive down numbers, however, as the final attendance for the game was 1,350, which was the 7th-highest of the season and the 3rd-highest during a weekend game.

Penn State went on to lose the Sunday game by a score of 15-11 to drop the series to Minnesota. It was the most disappointing weekend of the season, as the Nittany Lions could have used a series win against the Golden Gophers to keep up their postseason hopes. Following a 1-1 weekend in Annapolis (Georgetown, W & Navy, L), Penn State returned to conference play as they hosted Rutgers. The Nittany Lions walked it off on Friday, and then dropped the Saturday game by a score of 7-1. On Senior Day, it was do or die for the Nittany Lions’ postseason hopes.

Penn State answered the call, coming back from a 9-2 deficit and having their head coach (Mike Gambino) ejected. With their backs against the wall, it was a 3-run 4th and scoring 1 run in the 5th and the 8th to make it a 9-7 game. Rutgers scored 1 in the top of the 9th to make it a 10-7 game. With their season on the line, the Nittany Lions led off the bottom of the 9th with two solo blasts from Bobby Marsh and Grant Norris to make it 10-9. The tying run was scored by a wild pitch, and Joe Jaconski walked it off with an opposite-field single to keep the season alive.

Penn State swept Maryland the following weekend to make it to the Big Ten Tournament. The Nittany Lions made it all the way to the Big Ten Championship, where they lost to Nebraska. Being that close to history, it’s easy to look back at this season fondly as the Nittany Lions did the seemingly impossible. Luke Combs’ concert helped drive up the attendance number a bit, and after losing in front of a big crowd, perhaps it was the turning point to help fuel the historic postseason run.