| Garrett Field went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored in the game vs. Minnesota that was completed on Sunday morning. Field and Nittany Lions finish the season 31-26, the most wins since 2000. |
ANN ARBOR, Mich.; May 27, 2007 ?C Down to their final out, Minnesota scored the game-tying run on an infield single that was chopped just over the head of the pitcher in the bottom of the ninth and then the Gophers got a game-winning double from Jeremy Chlan in the bottom of the eleventh to Minnesota a 4-3 win over Penn State in the completion of the suspended game from Saturday on Sunday morning. The loss drops Penn State to 31-26 on the season, while Minnesota advances to the championship round against Ohio State on Sunday.
Penn State drew first blood by stringing together a pair of two-out hits in the top of the third inning on Saturday night. Garrett Field (Stillwater, Okla.) started with a two-out double down the left field line that dropped just in front of the left fielder Kyle Baran. Matt Cavagnaro (Brightwaters, N.Y.) then lined a single up the middle to plate Field with the first run of the game.
Seth Whitehill (Bellefonte, Pa.), starting his second game in four days after throwing just 45 pitches in the first game of the tournament vs. Ohio State, made it through the first three innings without any trouble, working around some baserunners to keep the Gophers off the scoreboard. In the fourth, he ran into some trouble, however, as he gave up singles to Baran and Bryan Jost to start the inning, one of which was an infield hit. Kevin Carlson then laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached when Mike Deese??s (Roswell, Ga.) throw from third was in the dirt to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by Derek McCallum tied the score 1-1. Whitehill then walked Sean Kommerstad to reload the bases and Matt Nohelty followed with a single to left to score one more run to give the Gophers the 2-1 lead and knock out Whitehill. Reliever Ryan Stobart (Barrington, Ill.) came on and quickly extinguished the fire, inducing a foul pop out to Dan Lyons and then striking out Minnesota??s leading hitter Mike Mee on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning.
Stobart retired the next six hitters in a row in the fifth and sixth, getting a nifty-turned double play by Cavagnaro and Scott Gaffney (Westbury, N.Y.) in the middle infield to aid his cause in the fifth. In the top of the seventh, with the rain approaching, the Nittany Lions manufactured a pair of runs to take the lead. Deese started the scoring run by barely legging out an infield hit that he chopped just over the head of Minnesota pitcher Dustin Brabender. Rick Marlin (Orlando, Fla.) then drew a walk and Scott Kelley (Arlington Heights, Ill.) blooped a single into shallow center field to load the bases, as both runners had to hold up in case the shallow fly was caught. Field then continued his outstanding Big Ten Tournament by blooping another single into short right field to score Deese with the tying run, although the runners had to once again hold up in case the ball was caught. Cavagnaro then chopped a ball down to first base that was fielded and he was putout on and then thrown home to try to double up Marlin coming home on the force with the bases loaded, but Marlin slid in just under the tag of Carlson at the plate to give the Nittany Lions a 3-2 lead.
Shortly after the go-ahead run was scored and the final out of the top of the seventh was made, Stobart and the Nittany Lions came out to warm up for the bottom of the seventh but with the rain starting to pick up, both teams were sent back to their dugouts and the tarp was pulled over the field, with the rain delay beginning at 6:08 p.m. Finally, at 8:32 p.m., the game was suspended until Sunday.
The resumption of the game began at 9:57 a.m. on Sunday and it started with Matt Ogrodnik (Saltsburg, Pa.) making his record setting 29th appearance of the year, breaking his own record of 28 that he set last year. Ogrodnik retired six straight hitters in the seventh and eighth innings while Penn State managed two baserunners in the eighth and ninth innings but were not able to score.
In the bottom of the ninth, Carlson broke up Ogrodnik??s string of retiring hitters with a leadoff single up the middle. Pinch hitter Jeremy Chlan laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Carlson over to second. Drew O??Neil (Roswell, Ga.) was then brought and he got the second straight pinch hitter, Tyler VanderAarde to ground out to second, moving Carlson to third. Needing one more out to end the game, O??Neil induced Nohelty into hitting a chopper that just got over the head of O??Neil on the mound and the speedy Nohelty was able just beat Cavagnaro??s throw to first for an infield RBI single to tie the game 3-3.
Penn State got a leadoff double from Cavagnaro to lead off the top of the tenth but was unable to score. O??Neil worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth and Penn State was unable to do anything with a two-out single by Marlin in the top of the eleventh.
In the bottom of the eleventh, Tom Steidl, who replaced Jost at first base after Jost was pinch hit for in the eighth inning, led off with a single to right. Carlson then successfully sacrificed Steidl to second and the game ended when Chlan lined the first pitch down the right field line to the game-winning double. The run was the first earned run that O??Neil gave up since March 16th and the first earned run given up this year against a Big Ten team.