| Seth Whitehill has made it from the club baseball team as a freshman to second team All-Big Ten as a junior. |
Ann Arbor, Mich.; May 22, 2007 ?C A total of five members of the Penn State baseball team were named to the All-Big Ten teams that were released Tuesday by the Big Ten office prior to the start of the Big Ten Tournament at Michigan. Two Nittany Lions in starting pitcher Craig Clark (Phoenixville, Pa.) and relief pitcher Drew O??Neil (Roswell, Ga.) were named first team All-Big Ten. Starting pitcher Seth Whitehill (Bellefonte, Pa.) was named to the second team while outfielder Brian Ernst (Boyertown, Pa.) and catcher Joe Blackburn (Sinking Spring, Pa.) were named to the third team. The five players named All-Big Ten is the most for Penn State since the 2000 season, when six players were named All-Big Ten.
O??Neil and Clark become the first Penn Staters to be named first team All-Big Ten since 2001 when Chris Netwall was a first team selection.. The two Penn State players on the first team is also tied for the second most Penn Staters on an All-Big Ten first team, behind only the 2000 team, which had four first team selections. Other than this year, 1996 is the only other year in addition to 2000 that Penn State had at least two first team selections.
| Craig Clark finished the regular season with the second-lowest ERA in the Big Ten among starters and was named first team All-Big Ten. |
O??Neil cemented himself as the top relief pitcher in the Big Ten this year and was rewarded for his efforts as the first team relief pitcher. He has set a school record this year for saves in a single season with 10 and in just one season is already tied for third place on the Penn State career saves list. The transfer from Young Harris College has compiled a Big Ten-low 1.32 ERA and a 3-1 record in 20 appearances to go along with his 10 saves, which ranks second in the conference. In 27.1 innings, he has allowed just 15 hits and five runs, four earned while striking out 18 and holding opponents to a .167 batting average. The sophomore has held the opposition without any runs in 17 of his 20 appearances and without any earned runs in 18 of 20. He enters the Big Ten Tournament having pitched 20.1 consecutive inning without having allowed an earned run and 17 straight scoreless innings. In Big Ten play, the Roswell, Ga. native has a 0.00 ERA, having not allowed a single run, earned or unearned, in 16.1 innings. He has a 2-0 record and eight saves in Big Ten play.
Clark earns his first career All-Big Ten recognition, as a member of the first team as well. One of the top starting pitcher in the Big Ten, the senior compiled his lowest career ERA at 2.79 and has a 5-4 record entering the Big Ten Tournament and in the Big Ten has a 4-2 record with a similar 2.88 ERA. The left-hander has thrown the most innings of any Penn State pitcher this year. In addition to ERA and innings, Clark also leads the team in starts, strikeouts and opposing batting average. Clark has started two of Penn State??s four wins over nationally-ranked teams this year, keeping the Nittany Lions in both games before leaving with the scores tied, only to see Penn State go onto win in extra innings both times. Entering the Big Ten Tournament, Penn State has won each of Clark??s past five starts. The Phoenixville, Pa. native has pitched at least six innings while allowing four earned runs or fewer in 10 of his 13 starts. Clark will leave Penn State after this season ranking in the top five on the career lists at Penn State for starts, strikeouts and innings pitched.
| Brian Ernst rode his late-season hot hitting to a selection to the All-Big Ten third team. |
Whitehill continues his emergence as a top pitcher in the Big Ten, in this his second year as a member of the Penn State baseball team as he was named as one of the four pitchers on the All-Big Ten second team. After coming up from the club baseball team last year and becoming a weekend starter the third Big Ten weekend of the year, Whitehill spent all of this year as a weekend starter, starting the opening game of seven of eight Big Ten series. Overall, Whitehill had a 5-5 record in 67.1 innings of work while holding the opposition to a .267 batting average. In Big Ten play, he was even more impressive, putting up a 4-2 record with a 3.86 ERA in 46.2 innings while holding hitters to an even lower .233 average. Penn State won six of his eight starts in Big Ten play while the Bellefonte, Pa. native won pitched more than five innings in seven of his eight starts and six or more innings in five of those starts.
| Drew O'Neil had a dominating season, compiling a 0.00 ERA in Big Ten play, and was named as the relief pitcher on the All-Big Ten first team. |
Ernst and Blackburn both also earned their first career All-Big Ten recognition as they were named to the third team, Ernst as an outfielder and Blackburn as a catcher. Ernst has been on a tear at the plate towards the end of the season as he has hit in 15 of his last 17 games and 21 of his last 24. He has raised his average by 68 points from .258 up to his current season high .326 entering the Big Ten Tournament. The redshirt junior from Boyertown, Pa. is tied for second on the team with 18 multiple-hit games. He has played both center and left field this year, starting 21 games in left and 23 in center after playing primarily right field last year.
Blackburn has had a breakout season this year in his second year back from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Also a redshirt junior, Blackburn came back last year after having his 2005 season cut short by surgery but saw limited playing time. This year, Blackburn leads the Nittany Lions in hitting at .366. He also leads the team in several other offensive categories, including hits, doubles, triples, RBI, total bases, slugging percentage and on base percentage. He has been ranked in the top 10 in the Big Ten in batting average at times this year and leads the Big Ten in triples with five after not having any in his career entering this year. With just one more triple this year, he will tie the school record for triples in a season. The Sinking Spring, Pa. native has reached base safely in 46 of his 52 games played this year and as hit in 40 of 52 games. He has also proved be a solid defensive catcher as well, committing just five errors in 228 total chances for a solid .978 fielding percentage. The pitching staff has also benefited from his catching expertise, as the staff has a 3.46 ERA when he has started at catcher this year.
| Joe Blackburn had a breakout year at the plate and was named third team All-Big Ten. |
The combined five All-Big Ten honorees is the most since 2000 and is tied for the third most all-time, behind only the 10 honoree in 1996 and the six in 2000. The 1995 team also had five All-Conference honorees.
Additionally, Seth Whitehill was also named as Penn State??s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree.