| Head coach Robbie Wine argues a call with the umpires during the second game Saturday againt Indiana. For more photos from the doubleheader, click here. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.; April 29, 2006 ?C In a doubleheader filled with controversy in both games, Penn State wasted two strong pitching performances by Mark Wyner and Seth Whitehill as well as by reliever Matt Ogrodnik in game one, and for the fourth straight Saturday, dropped both games of its doubleheader to Indiana by 3-2 and 3-0 scores.
After tying the game in the bottom of the seventh inning of game one, a controversial call at home plate went against the Nittany Lions in the bottom of the ninth. Indiana went on to score an unearned run in the top of the eleventh inning and held on for the 3-2 win. In game two, Penn State had eight hits but Hoosiers starter Tyler Tufts kept them off the scoreboard, pitching a complete game shutout as six Nittany Lion baserunners were erased on the basepaths.
The Hoosiers scored first in both games, beginning with a single run in the first inning of game one. Reggie Watson lined a one-out single through the middle and then with two outs, running on contact and using his exception speed, scored on a double that dropped just inside the right field line by Zach Boswell.
Penn State tied the score 1-1 in the third inning. Aaron Greenfield doubled with one out and went to third on a passed ball. One out later, Scott Gaffney, who was just a home run short of the cycle in game one and went 3-for-4, tripled to right to drive in Greenfield but was stranded at third.
After being unable to get to Wyner in the second-fifth inning, Indiana touched him up for one more run in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. Wyner put himself into a jam by issuing a pair of one-out walks to Jon Fixler and Michael Nilles. After the walks, some words came out of the Penn State dugout in the direction of home plate umpire Bruce Doane, who then took off his mask and began yelling into the Nittany Lions dugout, which eventually led to pitching coach Jason Bell being ejected.
Following the ejectiong, Josh Richardson then singled through the left side, scoring Fixler. Some errant baserunning by the Hoosiers prevented them from taking an even bigger lead, which would prove costly in the bottom of the seventh. Andrew Means singled to left and Nilles was waved home coming from second. But he stopped, not following the ??go?? sign, and scampered back to third, only to be joined there by Richardson, who was on first base to start the play. Richardson was tagged out and Wyner got pinch hitter Ryan Parker to fly out and end the inning, stranding runners at the corners.
In the bottom of the seventh, Gaffney led off with a double down the left field line and advanced to third on Garrett Field??s flyout for the first out of the inning. Indiana brought the infield in and it paid off as Brian Ernst grounded out to shortstop. With Travis Laird at the plate, a wild pitch by Josh Lewis, who was in his seventh inning of work, allowing Gaffney to come home with the tying run, which would be costly as Laird grounded out to end the inning.
Wyner left the game after the sixth inning in favor of Matt Ogrodnik. The stocky lefthander, who had gotten the save in yesterday??s game, shut down the Hoosiers in beginning the seventh inning. He allowed just one hit in his first four innings of work and set down 11 in a row from one point spanning the final out in the seventh through the first out in the 11th. Ogrodnik ended his day having pitched a career high five innings, topping his previous high of three and two-thirds.
After the Nittany Lions went down in order in the eighth against reliever Joe Vicini, they put together a threat in the bottom of the ninth that would end on the first controversial call of the day. Cory Wine doubled to left center with one out to start things. Gaffney, who was 3-for-3 at that point in the game, was then intentionally walked. Garrett Field flied out for the second out of the inning, bringing Ernst to the plate, who singled up the middle. Wine was waved home and arrived at home plate just an instant after Watson??s near-perfect throw to the plate, appearing to slide in under the tag of Billy O??Conner and in a cloud of dust. O??Conner picked up the ball from between his legs with his bare hand after tagging Wine with his glove and Doane called Wine out as the Penn State dugout emptied, thinking it had won the game. After a brief argument from PSU head coach Robbie Wine, all three umpires conferred, concluding that O??Conner did not have possession of the ball when making the initial tag but that Wine had somehow not touched the plate and had been tagged out on the second tag after O??Conner did get possession of the baseball, sparking a heated argument between Wine and Doane, which as usual was to no avail.
After Penn State had another threat in the bottom of the tenth, stranding runners at the corners after Greenfield lined out to shortstop, the Hoosiers capitalized on a Penn State error to push across the go-ahead run in the eleventh. With one out, Steve Head singled to center and the ball got by Field, allowing Head to get all the way to second. He scored on O??Conner??s single to center, which was just the third hit given up by Ogrodnik in his five innings of work. Ogrodnik got the next two hitters out to end the inning.
Vicini set down the Penn State side in order in the bottom of the eleventh to preserve the win and giving a tough loss to Ogrodnik in his first decision of the year, despite not allowing an earned run. Ogrodnik allowed just the three hits and one unearned run in five innings of relief, while striking out one and walking none. To his credit, Vicini also pitched well in relief, allowing just three hits while walking two and striking out one in four innings to pick up the win. Indiana starter Lewis also pitched well, allowing just five hits in seven innings of work and two runs along with three walks and four strikeouts. Wyner struck out seven in six innings for the Nittany Lions but had to throw 108 in doing so, allowing six hits and two runs while walking four.
Game two started out with the Hoosiers once again taking an early lead, this time on a two-out solo home run to left by Jay Brant off Penn State starter Seth Whitehill. Penn State two runners on base in each of the first four innings but were unable to score as Hoosier starter Tufts induced one double play grounder, another double play when James Spinelli popped out on a hit-and-run, and Scott Gummo was thrown out at the plate on a play that was not that close after Lance Thompson??s single with two outs in the third. Penn State had all eight of its hits in the first four innings but were unable to score.
Meanwhile, Indiana extended its lead to 2-0 in the fifth inning as Keith Haas and Watson singled to start the inning and each moved up a base on Whitehill??s first wild pitch of the season. Haas scored on Brant??s groundout before Whitehill ended the threat and stranded the speedy Watson at third by striking out the final two hitters of the inning.
Controversy marred the bottom of the sixth inning once again and once again, it was Doane in the middle of it, this time from his third base umpire position. Gummo led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch for the Big Ten-leading 15th time. He was pinch run for by Landon Nakata. Thompson drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch but them Jim Leitgeb failed to successfully get down a sacrifice bunt, pushing it down the third base line and allowing Tufts to throw out Nakata at third. After Wine popped out for the second out, Gaffney hit a ball in the hole at shortstop that Richardson ranged to his right to get. He made a nice play to reel in the ball and then pivoted and threw to second to get the force on Leitgeb. The speedy Leitgeb appeared to slide in ahead of the throw to second from Richardson, but Doane called him out, sparking the most heated arguments of the day in a day full of heated arguments. Third base coach Eric Folmar, who usually has a very mild-mannered demeanor, immediately ran toward Doane to argue and was immediately ejected before he could barely get a word out. Thompson, who was on second to begin in the play, was also tossed after saying something while heading back out to his left field position. After arguing for longer than Folmar was even allowed to, Wine was also tossed, making it four ejections in the doubleheader for the Lions.
Indiana scored one more run to make it a 3-0 game in the seventh off reliever Steve Cline, who took over for Whitehill after he threw 98 pitches. Ryan Parker singled home Brant with two outs after Brant had singled with one out. It may have been worse but Head??s single to the right side hit Parker as he was running to second for the third out of the inning. Penn State went down in order in the seventh.
Brant ended the game with a 3-for-4 performance for the Hoosiers, including two RBI and two runs. Gaffney was the only Nittany Lion with multiple hits in the game, as he went 2-for-3 to end the twinbill 5-for-7. Tufts scattered eight hits in picking up the win, striking out one and walking one. Whitehill was once again tagged with a tough loss, falling to 0-2 after pitching six innings and allowing six hits and two runs. He struck out a career-high six and walked three.
Penn State will go for its fourth straight series split tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. when it sends Craig Clark to the mound. Indiana??s starter is TBA after probable starter Vicini threw 53 pitches in relief in game one.
Notes: Penn State??s was unable to extend its winning streak to a season-long four games in game one??.Thompson??s career-long 12-game hitting streak was snapped in the first game??.The loss in game one made Penn State??s record in one-run games 5-10 and 3-4 in extra-inning games??.Penn State??s last win in a Saturday game came back on April 1 in the first game at Minnesota. They have lost eight straight Saturday games.