| Matt Cavagnaro hit his first home run of the year and also tripled and scored two runs in Penn State's 6-1 win over Iowa on Friday. |
- Box Score
IOWA CITY, Iowa; April 6, 2007 ?C The combination of starter Seth Whitehill (Bellefonte, Pa.) and reliever Matt Ogrodnik (Saltsburg, Pa.) limited the high-powered Iowa offense to just one unearned run and the Penn State offense gradually built up a lead after trailing 1-0 early as the Nittany Lions topped Iowa 6-1 in the Big Ten series opener on Friday afternoon in frigid temperatures. The game was Penn State??s Big Ten road opener and its third straight win.
The game was the only Big Ten contest played on the afternoon, as the rest of the games were postponed due to the cold temperatures all around the Midwest. Today??s game was previously scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. start but was moved up to a 3:00 p.m. (CT) due to the weather. The cold weather may have been a contributing factor to the combined seven hit batters in the game, as four Nittany Lions and three Hawkeyes were plunked over the nine innings.
Under clear skies but chilly temperatures, the Nittany Lion pitching duo of Whitehill and Ogrodnik scattered nine hits for the Hawkeyes and allowed only an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning. The Hawkeyes were set down in order just once in the game, in the third inning, but Whitehill and Ogrodnik combined to strand 11 Iowa baserunners on the afternoon. Whitehill pitched five and two-thirds innings and allowed five hits and just the one unearned run. He struck out a season-high four and walked three to pick up his second win of the year. Ogrodnik went three and a third and allowed four hits while striking out three.
Matt Cavagnaro (Brightwaters, N.Y.) hit his first home run of the year and also tripled and finished 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. Scott Gaffney (Westbury, N.Y.) went 2-for-3 and reached base in four out of his five plate appearance while also scoring two runs. Cory Wine (Stillwater, Okla.) and Rob Yodice (Staten Island, N.Y.) each had two hits while Brian Ernst (Boyertown, Pa.) also had two RBI before leaving the game due to an injury.
In the Hawkeye first, Jason White led off with a single to right and went to second when Joe Blackburn??s (Sinking Spring, Pa.) attempted pickoff throw to first went into right field. He went to third when the fourth ball to Dusty Napoleon was a wild pitch and he scored on a fielder??s choice grounder by Kevin Hoef.
After that, however, the rest of the offense of the day belonged to only the Nittany Lions. Penn State tied the game right back up in the top of the second as Ernst came up with his first RBI of the day on a fielder??s choice grounder to score Blackburn, who had led off with a single, gone to second on a walk to Yodice, and both runners had advanced on a sacrifice by Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.).
Cavagnaro put the Lions on top 2-1 with a leadoff home run in the third inning, a shot over the wall in right field.
The Nittany Lions took a 3-1 lead in the sixth as Ernst drove in another run with an RBI groundout to drive in Yodice, who had singled to leadoff the inning and moved up on another single by Deese and then a wild pitch. On the play at first, however, Ernst stumbled over in pain after stepping on first base, appearing to injure an ankle. His status for the rest of the series is undetermined.
In the bottom of the sixth, Whitehill hit a batter and then issued a walk to start off the inning. Both runners were sacrificed over to second and third before Whitehill got Ben Geelan to line out to Gaffney at shortstop. Ogrodnik was then brought in and he got Justin Toole to ground out to Gaffney to end the inning and the threat.
Penn State extended its lead with two runs in the seventh. Cavagnaro narrowly missed his second home run of the day as he drove a triple off the top of the fence in right field to lead off the inning. He scored on a double by Gaffney to deep center field, which ended the day of Iowa starter Nick Erdman. Reliever Mike Jacobs came on and got Wine to ground out and struck out Blackburn but then gave up a single up the middle to Yodice that drove in Gaffney to make it 5-1. Yodice??s two single in the game were just his fourth and fifth non-extra base hits of the year and he also reached base in three of his four plate appearances.
Blackburn cut down his second runner attempting to steal in the bottom of the seventh and Ogrodnik got Caleb Curry to bounce into an inning-ending double play in the eighth to escape a one-out, runners on the corners jam.
The Lions tacked on one more insurance run in the ninth as Gaffney stroked his second double of the day with one out and scored on Wine??s single through the right side.
Ogrodnik gave up a one-out single and then plunked White for the second time on the day in the ninth but he struck out Travis Sweet and then got the Hawkeyes?? best hitter, Napoleon to pop out to Gaffney to end the game and pick up a save, his first of the year and the third of his career.
The teams will continue the series tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. (ET). Craig Clark (Phoenixville, Pa.) will take the mound in game one while the game two starter with either be Ryan Stobart (Barrington, Ill.) or Gaffney.
Notes: Cavagnaro has now reached base safely in 12 straight games while Blackburn has reached safely in 11 straight??.Penn State now has recorded four saves on the year, three for Drew O??Neil (Roswell, Ga.) and one for Ogrodnik, equaling last year??s save total in just its 23rd game of the year. Ogrodnik led the team with two saves last year.