Sunday was the wrong day to play Kent State.
Two days after defeating the Golden Flashes, the Penn State baseball team lost, 10-5, to Kent State in the championship game of the Coca-Cola Classic in Rock Hill, S.C.
The Nittany Lions (6-10) held Kent State to six hits Friday before allowing 14 in Sunday's tournament finale.
Kent State came into Sunday's game on a hot streak after scoring 16 runs on 24 hits in a game against Winthrop.
The Golden Flashes' hitters were able to break through against Lions starting pitcher John Walter in the third inning with four hits to take a 3-0 lead.
Penn State catcher Ben Heath said the Golden Flashes' turnaround is just part of the game.
"That's the way baseball goes," Heath said. "They're a good hitting team. They were just a little bit better than us today."
After Kent State added a run in the fourth, the Lions got on the scoreboard with two runs in the top of the fifth. Steve Snyder had an RBI single, and Elliot Searer crossed the plate on a fielder's choice.
However, the Golden Flashes extended their lead in the sixth with four runs on four hits, including a two-run home run by Travis Shaw.
Walter -- who gave up eight runs in six innings of work -- said he left some pitches over the plate but believed he did a better job of commanding the strike zone than in previous games.
"I'm still tinkering with some pitches," Walter said. "I threw a lot of pitches, which I thought was a sign of my conditioning from the preseason."
Kent State added an insurance run in the seventh, but the Lions were able to put together a late-inning rally. With a runner on in the eighth, Heath hit his sixth homer of the season. Joey DeBernardis followed that with a double and eventually scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 9-5.
Penn State coach Robbie Wine said his team has a lot of confidence and believes it can score every inning, which has played a part in its late scoring this season.
But the Golden Flashes took advantage of their opportunities at the plate Sunday to keep the game out of reach. Four wild pitches from the Lions -- including three from Walter -- aided Kent State in some of the innings they scored.
Wine said Walter is the type of pitcher who will throw balls in the dirt, so the catchers will need to block them better.
Despite going 2-2 during the weekend, the team is disappointed with the results and looking to get better on the mound, Wine said.
"We came here to win four [games], and we only split," Wine said. "We're improving in some areas, but a four-game series, we need to be able to handle that."
