| Joe Blackburn went 3-for-3 and reached base in all five plate appearances on Wednesday vs. Kent State. |
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; April 4, 2007 ?C Penn State trailed Kent State 3-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning but the Nittany Lions scored six runs in the seventh, tied for the most runs they have scored in a single inning this year, to take the lead and then finished the game with a 9-3 win over the Golden Flashes, their second straight win and their third in their last four games.
Joe Blackburn (Sinking Spring, Pa.) went 3-for-3 and reached base in all five of his plate appearances, also drawing two walks. He had a pair of doubles, scored a run and drove in one. Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.) went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and a run scored while Cory Wine (Stillwater, Okla.) went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. Four of Penn State??s 11 hits were doubles and the Nittany Lions also had three successful sacrifices on the night.
Matt Ogrodnik (Saltsburg, Pa.) picked up the win in relief for the Nittany Lions, just his second career win in 57 career appearances, all out of the bullpen. His only other career win came in his first career appearance on February 25, 2005 at UNC-Wilmington. The Penn State bullpen worked five scoreless innings of relief to keep the Lions within striking distance after Kent State had taken a 3-0 lead in the first four innings off starter Gary Amato (Cocoa Beach, Fla.). Starting just his third career game, Amato worked four innings, giving up six hits and three runs while walking two and striking out two.
The Golden Flashes scored one run in the first and two in the fourth. In the first, Chris Tremblay led off with a single, stole second, went to third on a fly out to right, and scored on a single by Andrew Davis.
After Amato worked around a leadoff single in the second and induced a double play ball in the third to help himself, he ran into trouble in the fourth as Brad Winter led off with a double to left center, went to third on a fly out to right, and scored on a single up the middle by Anthony Gallas, who later came around to score on a two-out single by Jason Patton to make it 3-0.
The Nittany Lions took advantage of a Kent State error to score their first run in the bottom of the fourth. Blackburn led off with a double and eventually went to third on a wild pitch and scored when Rick Marlin??s (Orlando, Fla.) two-out grounder to shortstop and bobbled by Davis.
Penn State pulled to within one run in the fifth by moving across another run. Freshman Louie Picconi (North Merrick, N.Y.), getting just his second start of the year, drew a walk to lead off the inning and was sacrificed to second by Matt Cavagnaro (Brightwaters, N.Y.). He went to third on a wild pitch and later scored on a single by Blackburn.
Freshman John Karr (Gibsonia, Pa.) came on to pitch the fifth, sixth and into the seventh innings and although he issued two walks and hit a batter, he did not allow any runs or hits and is still yet to allow a hit in 5.2 innings of work this year. He allowed a leadoff walk in the seventh and that runner went to second on a wild pitch. Karr left in favor of Ogrodnik, who got the last two outs.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Nittany Lions sent 12 batters to the plate and pounded out five hits and worked two walks and also benefited from a Kent State throwing error. Picconi led off with his first collegiate hit, a single to center. Cavagnaro then laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached when pitcher Jon Pokorny??s throw to first went over the head of the first baseman. Scott Kelley (Arlington Heights, Ill.) then laid down another sacrifice bunt to push the runners to second and third and both runners then scored on Wine??s single up the middle. Blackburn and pinch hitter Jim Leitgeb (Elkton, Md.) then both walked to load the bases and Wine scored on Deese??s single to center. After a fielder??s choice forced a runner at home, Garrett Field (Stillwater, Okla.) singled home two more runs with a blooper to short center field. Picconi then was hit by a pitch to reach base for the third time in four plate appearances on the night and the last run scored when Cavagnaro singled off the base umpire.
The Lions added one more run in the eighth inning as Deese knocked in Wine, who had drawn a leadoff walk, with a single.
Ogrodnik also pitched the eighth inning and Drew O??Neil (Roswell, Ga.) came on for the second straight night to pitch the ninth inning, although he did not earn a save tonight as he had yesterday with much more slim one-run lead. Also for the second straight night, O??Neil got a game-ending double play to wrap it up.
Penn State will now travel to Iowa for a weekend Big Ten series. Friday??s game has been moved from a 7:00 p.m. (ET) start to a 4:00 p.m. (ET) start. The other game times currently remain the same. All four games can be heard on GoPSUsports.com as well as WBLF 970 AM in State College.