- Box Score
| Joe Blackburn drove in a run and scored one as well in Penn State's 3-1 win over Michigan State in the series opener on Saturday. |
EAST LANSING, Mich.; April 14, 2007 - Penn State got three two-out RBI hits to account for all three of its runs and Seth Whitehill (Bellefonte, Pa.) picked up his second straight win by throwing five and two-thirds innings and allowing just one run for the second straight weekend to lead the Nittany Lions to a 3-1 win over Michigan State in the series opener on Saturday afternoon. It marks the second straight weekend that the Nittany Lions have won the first game of a Big Ten series behind Whitehill.
Whitehill picked up his team-leading third win of the year, allowing five hits while walking just one and striking out four. Mike Lorentson (Springfield, Pa.) came on and got a key strikeout in relief of Whitehill in the bottom of the sixth to end that frame. Matt Ogrodnik (Saltsburg, Pa.) threw two scoreless innings without allowing a hit in his Big Ten-leading 15th appearance of the year and Drew O??Neil (Roswell, Ga.) worked a scoreless ninth for his fourth save, getting a game-ending double play grounder to end the game.
Penn State outhit Michigan State 13-7, of which four of those 13 hits were doubles. Joe Blackburn (Sinking Spring, Pa.) went 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI to lead the PSU offense while Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.) went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Rick Marlin (Orlando, Fla.) went 2-for-3 with an RBI while Cory Wine (Stillwater, Okla.) went 2-for-5. The Nittany Lions had 15 baserunners in the game, putting runners on in eight of nine innings, including in six of seven innings against Spartan starter Craig Brookes. The Lions put pressure on Brookes, who entered the game second in the Big Ten in ERA, from the beginning. Penn State put runners on the corners with two outs in the first and got a leadoff double from Brian Ernst (Boyertown, Pa.) in the second but were unable to score.
| Mike Deese also drove in one run and scored one in Saturday's game. |
In the fourth, Blackburn led off with the third Penn State double of the afternoon. He remained on second with two outs, however, until Deese struck a single through the right side to drive him in for the first run of the game.
The Spartans evened the game in the bottom of the fourth as Seth Gerstenberger doubled with one out for the first Michigan State hit of the afternoon, then went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Kyle Day??s single. A single by Justin Potes put runners at first and second but Whitehill got the next two hitters on fly ball outs to end the inning.
With runners at first and second with one out off a pair of single in the top of the fifth, the Spartans averted a big inning by the Nittany Lions with a line drive off the bat of Blackburn was hit right at Gerstenberger at second base, who doubled off Scott Gaffney (Westbury, N.Y.) to end the inning.
The Nittany Lions took the lead with two-out thunder in the top of the sixth as Deese drove a double down the left field line with two outs and scored on Marlin??s single up the middle. In the bottom of the sixth, Day singled up the middle with one out and went to second on a groundout. The southpaw Lorentson was then brought in to face the left-handed hitting Chris Roberts and he struck him out looking on a 3-2 pitch to strand the tying run in scoring position. That would be the only hitter Lorentson faced.
Penn State picked up an insurance run in the seventh inning as Matt Cavagnaro (Brightwaters, N.Y.) led off with an infield hit, went to second on a wild pitch, and took third on a sacrifice by Gaffney. He remained there when Wine grounded out back to Brookes but trotted home on Blackburn??s single through the right side.
| Matt Ogrodnik pitched two scoreless innings in relief and has now pitched eight straight scoreless frames. |
Ogrodnik worked back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth. In the ninth, O??Neil was brought on and he gave up back-to-back seeing-eye singles to Potes and Roberts to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in person of Evan Friedland. Friedland swung at the first pitch and bounced a grounder to Deese at third, who fielded it, stepped on third for the force, and threw to first to complete the game-ending double play.
Penn State improves to 10-17 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten with the win over the Spartans, who entered this weekend in second place in the Big Ten standings. The teams will play a doubleheader tomorrow beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Notes: Ogrodnik has now thrown eight straight scoreless innings over his last four appearances??.Cavagnaro reached base safely for his 16th straight game with his seventh-inning single??.Penn State played its eighth errorless game in the field??.O??Neil save was not only his fourth of the year but the fifth of the year for the Nittany Lions, surpassing their total of four from all of last season in just their 27th game??.Aside from the fourth inning, when Michigan State scored its only run, Whitehill allowed just three other baserunners in his 5.2 innings??.Lorentson made his first appearance since the Bucknell game on April 3??.Cavagnaro twice showed outstanding range in the field, once making an over-the-shoulder catch in short right field on a pop up by Eli Boike in the second and then robbing Brandon Doherty of a hit in the eighth by going far to his right and then throwing him out by making a throw across his body.