Franklin throws strike at Yankee Stadium

Published Apr. 29, 2015 5:44 p.m. ET

foxsports

James Franklin achieved a couple of missions Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium: He spread the Nittany Lions football brand and avoided embarrassment.

Not that anyone doubted the Penn State head coach would pull off the former, but the latter has proven difficult for even some of the world's elite athletes when it comes to throwing out a ceremonial first pitch.

Not so for Franklin, who wound up from the pitching rubber and delivered a strike.

Great shot of @coachjfranklin throwing out the first pitch at last night's #Yankees game! #Pinstripebowl #PSU pic.twitter.com/hD5iHVaCec
— Pinstripe Bowl Game (@PinstripeBowl) April 29, 2015

"I had an awesome experience," he said, via the PSU athletics department. "They've been great to us since we arrived in town, and really the whole bowl experience carried over. I went out on the mound, let it fly and had some fun...It felt good. I tried not to think about it a lot and just let it fly. It went somewhere near the plate and had a little bit of velocity on it."