| Matt Cavagnaro went 2-for-4 with a run to lead Penn State in the first game of the Big Ten Tournament. |
- Box Score
ANN ARBOR, Mich.; May 23, 2007 ?C Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Cory Luebke, facing Penn State for the second time in five days, pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits while newly named second team All-Big Ten member Seth Whitehill (Bellefonte, Pa.) was unable to duplicate his solid seven-inning, four-hit, two-run performance that he turned in last Friday as the Nittany Lions fell to the Buckeyes 10-3 in their first game at the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday. The meeting was the fifth game between Penn State and Ohio State in the last five days after the Nittany Lions took three out of four from the Buckeyes last weekend in State College.
A total of four relief pitchers threw well in relief of Whitehill, who lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing 10 hits and six runs. The combination of Mike Lorentson (Springfield, Pa.), Ryan Stobart (Barrington, Ill.), David Lutz (West Chester, Pa.) and Gary Amato (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) held the Buckeyes to just one earned run over the final 6.1 innings, but the damage was done early, providing too much of a hole to climb out of against one of the best pitchers in the Big Ten.
Ohio State struck early, scoring three runs in the first and two in the second, followed by single runs in the third and fourth innings. Swinging at pitches early in the count for the most part, the Buckeyes put together three straight singles to start the game, producing the first run. The second scored on a sacrifice fly, which was the first out of the inning, and then with two outs, two more consecutive singles produced the third run.
In the second, a two-out, two-run single by J.B. Shuck made it 5-0. Then, in the third, after giving up a pair of infield hits in addition to getting the first two outs of the inning, Whitehill was lifted in favor of Lorentson, who gave up an RBI single to Jacob Howell before getting the final out of the inning.
Lorentson gave up the only earned run yielded by the Nittany Lion bullpen in the fourth as he walked Shuck with one out and then with two outs, gave up an RBI single to Jason Zoeller.
The Buckeyes got three unearned runs in the top of the seventh, taking advantage of a Penn State error to do so.
Penn State was finally able to break through on the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth, as it scored three runs of reliever Taylor Barnes. Matt Cavagnaro (Brightwaters, N.Y.) singled to lead off and was followed by a pair of walks to Scott Gaffney (Westbury, N.Y.) and Cory Wine (Stillwater, Okla.). Cavagnaro scored on a wild pitch and Gaffney and Wine then scored on successive sacrifice flies.
Cavagnaro and Ernst led the way for the Penn State offense as they both went 2-for-4. The third-seeded Nittany Lions drop into the losers?? bracket with the loss and will face fourth-seeded Iowa, who dropped an equally lopsided game in the first game of Wednesday, 12-3 to fifth-seeded Illinois. The Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes will play tomorrow??s first game at 12:05 p.m. That game will be followed by Illinois-Minnesota at 3:35 p.m. and Ohio State-Michigan at 7:05 p.m. If Penn State were to emerge from tomorrow??s game victorious, then it would advance onto Friday??s first game at 12:05 p.m.
Head Coach Robbie Wine quotes
On today's loss to Ohio State
"For one, our team personality and character did not show up today. It wasn't us. There was a lot of tension. We weren't our happy-go-lucky selves in there enjoying the game. Giving up three runs in the first will do that to a team sometimes. Ohio State, you have to give them credit. They did a great job against us. They gave into them. They made adjustments, put the ball in play and did some things to help their cause. (Starting pitcher) Seth Whitehill didn't get away with some stuff today. You get down to a team in the first round against one of the top pitchers (Ohio State's Cory Luebke) in the conference and it's going to be tough. We didn't give up, but we felt like we were climbing a mountain at that point. We talked about it and I think this team will show up tomorrow no problem."
On tomorrow's game against Iowa
"We'll throw Craig Clark tomorrow. It's all or nothing. We'll keep throwing all of our guns out there and see how long we can go, but that is one of our strengths -- pitching. Based on keeping together today's game, we're in good shape. We got (David) Lutz, (Michael) Lorentson, (Ryan) Stobart and (Gary) Amato out there to get a little taste of Big Ten action, which is going to help us in the long run. With Craig Clark going out there he's one of the top pitchers in the league too, so we'll be alright. Iowa is going to be coming. You know they had a similar game today against Illinois. It's tournament time and there's a lot of baseball left. The way I look at it is on Saturday there will be one team that is undefeated, so everybody will have a loss. We just need to get to Saturday."