When Jordan Steranka made contact with the bases loaded, he said he was only trying to hit a sacrifice fly.
Instead, he cleared the bases.
Steranka's grand slam in the fourth inning lifted the Penn State baseball team to a 9-2 win against Kent State Tuesday at Schoonover Stadium.
"I was looking for a ball kind of up," Steranka said. "I just wanted a sac fly. But it kept going and went up a little, too. I knew I hit it pretty long. I knew it was sacrifice fly, but it went over the fence."
The third baseman's second home run of the season and first career grand slam changed the game with one swing. The Nittany Lions (12-8) went from down one run to up three and coasted to its fifth straight victory.
In the fourth inning, the first nine Penn State batters reached base, with Steranka's long ball one of only two extra-base hits.
By the time Mike Deese fouled out for the first out of the inning, the Lions scored seven runs and chased out Kent State starting pitcher Kyle Hallock, who entered the game with a 1-0 record and a 0.55 ERA.
Before the fourth-inning rally, Penn State had just two hits. Coach Robbie Wine said the sudden offensive surge came from simply stringing together strong at-bats. He said the players "dug in there and battled."
Steranka said the team took a good approach in the inning because Hallock started walking batters.
As for Steranka's grand slam, Wine said he couldn't tell right away if it would clear the fence, as he said the ball wasn't carrying well during the game. All he knew was it was a well-hit ball that Steranka got underneath.
While the Lions' offense pounded out 15 hits and also scored at least nine runs for the third straight game, its starting pitcher was just as effective.
Mike Lorentson, who was winless on the season and brought a 7.71 ERA into the contest, pitched 7.2 innings and allowed only five hits and two earned runs.
The senior said he was pleased to get past the fifth inning, adding he was able to keep pitches down while also using his fastball effectively. Wine said what helped was Lorentson's ability to throw strike after strike to get quick outs and keep his pitch count low, as the veteran threw only 89 pitches.
"They swing a lot on first pitch, so you can go to spots and get quick outs," Lorentson said. "It definitely helps. It helps our team RPI -- we need to beat teams during midweek. It's good for the team."
Penn State has its second game in as many days when it plays Temple (8-10) at 3 p.m. today in Ambler at Skip Wilson Field. Wine said after Sunday's win against New York Tech that Paul Cianciolo would be the starting pitcher against the Owls.
