| Joe Blackburn went 4-for-5 and was a home run short of hitting for the cycle in Wednesday's game. He is hitting .516 over his last seven games. |
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; April 18, 2007 ?C The Penn State baseball team pounded out 16 hits to tie for a season high but the Nittany Lions were outslugged by Mount St. Mary??s on Wednesday by a 16-8 score. A seven-run third inning by The Mount broke open what had been a 3-3 tie entering the inning and Mount St. Mary??s gradually added to that lead, responding to each attempt by Penn State to inch closer for the remainder of the game.
Two Penn Staters had four-hit games in the loss as Matt Cavagnaro (Brightwaters, N.Y.) went 4-for-6 and Joe Blackburn (Sinking Spring, Pa.) went 4-for-5, coming just a home run short of the cycle. Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.) went 3-for-5 and Rob Yodice (Staten Island, N.Y.) went 2-for-5.
Freshman Kayle Sickler (Troy, Pa.) made his first career start and his first career appearance. He lasted two innings, allowing just three hits but also giving up three walks, which led to his allowing six runs, all earned. After allowing just one run in the first and facing just four batters, he ran into some two-out trouble in the second. After retiring the first two hitters of the inning, he issued two walks and hit a batter in-between the walk to load the bases. Drew Counselman then singled home two runs to make it 3-0.
Penn State tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the second, benefiting from two extra-base hits and a Mount error. Blackburn led off with a triple and one out later scored on Deese??s ground ball to short that turned into an error, allow him to reach. After a walk to Rick Marlin (Orlando, Fla.) nd the second out of the inning, Louie Picconi (North Merrick, N.Y.) came up with the first extra-base hit of his career, a double to left center to drive home Deese and Marlin and tie the game. He was thrown out at the plate, however, trying to score on Cavagnaro??s single to right.
The Mountaineers then jumped all over Sickler and reliever David Lutz (West Chester, Pa.) in the third. Josh Vittek led off with a home run to right field, the first collegiate home run to be hit into the right field bleachers at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Sickler then hit Eric Smith and walked Ryan Murray. Lutz was brought in and gave up an RBI single just out of the reach of Deese at third to Stephan Fay and an infield hit to Matt Trusch. Back-to-back doubles by Mike Gioioso and Matt Eiden produced three more runs and two more runs scored later on a ground ball and a sacrifice fly.
A leadoff walk and a two-out RBI double by Gioioso scored on more run for Mount in the fourth to make it 11-3. Gary Amato (Cocoa Beach, Fla.), the third pitcher of the night for the Nittany Lions, put up a zero for Mount in the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, the Nittany Lions cut the lead to 11-6 as three straight two-out, RBI hits produced three runs for Penn State. Blackburn and Deese both had RBI singles sandwiched around an RBI double by Yodice.
However, Mount took back any momentum the Nittany Lions might have gained by cutting the lead to five as it got two runs back in the top of the sixth. Amato issued two straight walks to start the inning and then gave up an RBI double to Fay and an RBI single to Trusch.
From that point on, Mount scored an unearned run in the seventh to take back its eight-run lead and Penn State was unable to put together any more big innings, scoring just single runs in the eighth and ninth innings while Mount put two more on the board in the top of the ninth. Blackburn had an RBI double to drive in the run in the eighth while Garrett Field (Stillwater, Okla.) had a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth.
John Karr (Gibsonia, Pa.) pitched the final three innings for Penn State. Making his sixth appearance of the year, he finally gave up his first career hit after not allowing any safeties in his first five appearances, which had spanned five and two-thirds innings. He allowed six hits and three runs, only two of which were earned, but also struck out four and walked none as he found the strike zone more consistently that in any of his other previous appearances.
Penn State (12-19), which is 5-5 in the Big Ten and in sixth place, will now prepare for an important home Big Ten series this weekend against Northwestern. The series will also feature Alumni Weekend, which will take place on Saturday beginning with an alumni game at 9:30 a.m. and will also feature several other activities relating to the baseball alumni. The series kicks off on Friday at 6:35 p.m. while Saturday??s doubleheader will begin at 4:35 p.m., scheduled to coincide with the end of the Blue-White Football Spring Game. Tickets are available for this weekend and can be purchased by calling 814-272-1711 or 1-877-99-SPIKES. Tickets can also be purchased at GoPSUsports.com or at StateCollegeSpikes.com.
Notes:
- Cavagnaro and Blackburn as well as Mount??s Stephan Fay became the first collegiate players to have four-hit games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park
- The game was also the first career four-hit game for Cavagnaro while Blackburn??s four hits tied a career high
- The Mount??s Eric Smith became the first collegiate player to score four runs in a game at the new stadium
- Blackburn has now hit in seven straight games and is hitting .516 (16-for-31) during that span
- Both Karr and Lutz had the longest outings of the season, while Karr??s four strikeouts is a career high
- With Picconi??s double and two hit by pitches, he now has an on-base percentage of .455, which would lead the team if he had enough at-bats to qualify
- Penn State also had 16 hits in the March 16th game at Oral Roberts, in which the Nits also scored eight runs