- Game 1 Box Score
- Game 2 Box Score
- Photos
| Scott Kelley drove in three runs, his second three-RBI game of the year, in game two. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; May 6, 2007 - After falling 6-1 in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader with Purdue, the Nittany Lions bounced right back in game two, getting some clutch hitting, good pitching and taking advantage of some Purdue mistakes to win the series finale 7-3 and win the weekend series from the Boilermakers by taking three out of four games. Penn State (22-22, 14-8 Big Ten) won its third Big Ten series of the year, the most conference series wins since the 2003 season when the Nittany Lions won four Big Ten series.
Penn State, which entered the weekend tied with Ohio State for third place in the Big Ten with an 11-7 conference record, remains tied for third after the weekend but now with Iowa, which won three games from Indiana this weekend with the fourth being rained out. Both teams have 14-8 records in conference play. Ohio State is now two games behind both the Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes in fifth place at 12-10. The Nittany Lions have now won 14 out of their last 19 games and 20 out of their last 28.
John Karr (Gibsonia, Pa.) made just his second career start and his first in a conference game in game two. He pitched well, allowing just one earned run in five innings of work. He struck out four, walked four, and allowed four hits and three runs overall. Mike Lorentson (Springfield, Pa.) worked a scoreless sixth inning, pitching around an error and getting an inning-ending double play ball to pick up the win, his second of the year to improve to 2-1. Drew O'Neil (Roswell, Ga.) picked up his seventh save of the year by going the final one and two-thirds innings, facing the minimum number of hitters. He tied the school record for saves in a season with his seventh save, equaling Shawn Fagan's mark from 1998. He struck out two.
The second game did not begin in the Nittany Lions favor, as a two-out error by Cory Wine (Stillwater, Okla.) opened the gate for two unearned Boilermaker runs in the top of the first as John Cummins drove in both runs with a two-run single after the error and consecutive walks by Karr, who struck out Kyle Reesing looking to end the inning and avert further damage.
| Matt Cavagnaro went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI in game two. He has hit in 36 of Penn State's 44 games. |
It would not be a Purdue lead for long, however, as Penn State evened the score with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second, getting RBI singles from both Scott Kelley (Arlington Heights, Ill.) and Matt Cavagnaro (Brightwaters, N.Y.). Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.) started things with a one-out single. He stole second and then, on Rick Marlin's (Orlando, Fla.) grounder into the hole at short, Deese beat Cummins' throw to third to put runners on the corners. After the second out was made, Kelley swung at the first pitch and put a single into right center. Cavagnaro then also swung at the first pitch and singled off the glove of the third baseman to tie the game.
In the fifth, with Karr's pitch count climbing, he gave up a leadoff double to Spencer Ingaldson, who went to third on a fly out to right and score on Ryne White's single to center to make it 3-2 Boilermakers.
Once again, however, Penn State answered shortly thereafter, taking advantage of two Purdue errors in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-3 lead. The inning began with Rob Yodice (Staten Island, N.Y.) singling up the middle. Joe Blackburn (Sinking Spring, Pa.) then hit what looked like a potential double play ball to second but in charging in to field the ball, Reesing bobbled it, leaving him with no play anywhere. Wine then attempted to lay down his first sacrifice bunt of the year, pushing the bunt down towards third. Purdue starter pitcher Matt Jansen fielded the ball but as he looked toward third, bobbled the ball. He then threw to first but his throw was high and went down the first base line, allowing Yodice to score and putting runners at the corners. Jansen was pulled and reliever Dan Sattler entered. Sattler got Deese to ground out for the first out of the inning but then gave up a single to Marlin that scored Blackburn. A walk to Brian Ernst (Boyertown, Pa.) loaded the bases and Kelley followed with his second RBI of the night, a sacrifice fly to center that scored Wine. Cavagnaro followed with a single that dropped just in front of the left fielder to score Marlin. After Matt Ogrodnik (Saltsburg, Pa.) pitched a scoreless one and a third innings and O'Neil got the last two outs of the eighth, Penn State tacked on another insurance run in the eighth as Kelley drove in Deese, who had led off with a single, for his third RBI of the night. It marked Kelley's second three-RBI game of the year and his fourth multiple-RBI game of the season.
| Mike Lorentson picked up his second win of the year out of the bullpen to improve to 2-1. |
In the first game, Purdue starter Tony Sedlmeyer picked up the win by throwing five innings and allowing six hits and just the one run. The Boilermakers got all the runs they would need in the first inning when White homered over the right field fence, a two-run shot off PSU starter Ryan Stobart (Barrington, Ill.) with one out.
Penn State cut the lead to 2-1 in the second as Deese led off with a double and later scored as Purdue was turning a double play, but Purdue scored two more in the third, one off a successfully executed squeeze bunt and the other off an error. The Boilermakers scored two more in the sixth off reliever Paul Hawkins (Glen Hope, Pa.), one on an RBI single by Ingaldson and one on a wild pitch.
Penn State had runner on the corners with two outs in the fourth but were unable to score. In the sixth, Blackburn led off with a single and Wine walked. Sedlmeyer was pulled in favor of Josh Lindblom, who retired the last three hitters, two on fly balls and one on a grounder to end the inning.
The Nittany Lions will now take this week off for exams and will not return to action until Saturday, when they travel to Michigan for a pair of doubleheaders. Just like this weekend, the teams will play doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday.
Notes: O'Neil has now pitched 10 straight scoreless innings and is unscored upon in his last 11 appearances. He has also not allowed a walk in his last 10 innings of work and has retired the last 20 hitters he has faced, spanning his last five appearances. The last baserunner he allowed came on a single with one out in the bottom of the seventh against Michigan State on April 15....Penn State was once again perfect in stolen bases for a series, going a perfect 5-for-5 in swipes vs. Purdue....The last time Penn State won three Big Ten series in a season was in 2003, when the Nittany Lions won four series, one of which was a weather-shortened three-game series....That year was also Penn State's last series win over Purdue, which came on the road. This weekend marked the first time since 1998 that the Nittany Lions beat the Boilermakers in a home series....Penn State is now hitting .285 as a team, a spike of 29 points over its last 19 games....The Nittany Lions are now at .500 overall for the third time this year, excluding 0-0. Next weekend, they will attempt to rise over the .500 mark for the first time since the end of the 2005 season....Ogrodnik is now six appearances shy of tying his school record of 28 from last year. He also needs just 10 more to set the career record....Lorentson made his first appearance since the final game of the Northwestern series on April 22....The win in the second game was Penn State's 11th come-from-behind win of the year....Penn State now has four hitters hitting over .300 for the first time this year in Blackburn, Cavagnaro, Ernst and Marlin.