March 10, 2008
Pitching Coach Bell's postgame podcast interview (3-10) (mp3)
Lantana, Fla. - Penn State jumped out to an early 5-1 lead after three innings but was only able to get one hit from the fourth through eighth innings and two late runs in the ninth inning were not enough to overcome the lead that Monmouth had built as the Nittany Lions fell to Monmouth 9-7 on Monday. The Hawks scored two runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth to erase Penn State's lead and take a slim one-run lead and they then got three important insurance runs in the eighth.
After Monmouth starter Ryan Buch gave up five hits and five runs in four innings on 88 pitches, he was relieved by Kyle Bresse, who pitched the next four straight innings without allowing a hit to the Nittany Lions. He allowed his first hit in the ninth, when he gave up a one-out double to Rick Marlin. He left after that having pitching 4.1 innings with just one hit allowed, three walks and four strikeouts. His two runners allowed in the ninth eventually scored before Brett Brach picked up the save.
For the Nittany Lions, Mike Lorentson pitched a career-high seven innings, allowing 12 hits and six runs on one walk with no strikeouts. Of those 12 hits, six were seeing-eye hits, ground balls that found their way through holes in the infield, while one was a bunt single.
In the eighth inning, with Penn State clinging to a one-run deficit, reliever Paul Hawkins gave up a pair of seeing-eye singles sandwiched around a strikeout, the latter of which was misplayed in left by Scott Kelley and allowed the runners to move up to second and third. After an intentional walk to load the bases and set up a force at every base, pinch hitter Tim McEndy struck the biggest blow of the game, a bases-clearing double to right center on a 0-1 pitch to put Monmouth up 9-5 before Hawkins set down the next two hitters on ground balls.
The Nittany Lions put together a rally in the bottom of the ninth and were able to get the tying run to the plate with two outs. With one out, Wes Borden, who reached base in three of his four plate appearances on the day, drew his second walk of the game and was sent to third on Marlin's double. Brach then entered and struck out pinch hitter Grant Youngblood before Lou Picconi followed with another double to drive in both runs and bring the tying run to the plate. But Brach got Brian Ernst to bounce out to second to end the game.
For Penn State, Rob Yodice drove in two more runs as he went 1-for-4 with two RBI, giving him six RBI in Penn State's two games so far on the spring break trip. Borden went 1-for-1 with two walks and an RBI while Picconi reached base safely for the eighth straight game, going 1-for-3 with a walk, a run and two RBI. Freshman Mike Pierce worked the top of the ninth inning for the Nittany Lions and set down the Hawks in order.
The Hawks jumped on the scoreboard first as they got a couple of soft two-out hits to drive in their first run in the first inning. With two outs and a runner on first, Paul Bottigliero sent a seeing-eye single through the right side to put runners at first and second and that was followed by a bloop single into short center by Chris Collazo to make it 1-0.
Consecutive hits to lead off the second inning by the Nittany Lions followed by a pair of RBI outs gave the Nittany Lions a 2-1 in the bottom of the second. Joe Blackburn led off with a single through the right side and a double by Cory Wine into the gap in left center put runners at second and third. Blackburn scored and Wine moved to third on Borden's sacrifice fly to deep center and Wine came home on a groundout to third by Marlin.
The bases loaded with no outs produced three more runs for the Nittany Lions in the bottom of the third. Consecutive walks by Picconi and Ernst, including a nine-pitch at bat for Picconi, started the inning. Landon Nakata then tried to sacrifice the runners over but instead ended up with a bunt single when his bunt died inside the third base line about a third of the way up the line to load the bases. Yodice then continued his hot RBI string to begin the spring trip with a two-run single up the middle to make it 4-1 and send Nakata to third. Nakata came trotted home when Blackburn grounded into a double play to make it 5-1.
Rob Yodice now has six RBI in the last two games. |
Monmouth crept closer with two runs in the top of the fourth as their hits continued to find the holes in the Penn State defense. Nick Pulsonetti started the inning with a single to right that dropped just in front of Marlin but also bounced past him, allowing Pulsonetti to advance all the way to third. Mike Casale was then hit by a pitch and Pulsonetti then scored on a sacrifice fly to right. Tim McEndy then beat out a bunt down the third base line for an infield single to put runners at first and second and then Kyle Higgins snuck another seeing-eye single through the hole in the left side to score Casale and make it 5-3.
After a line drive at the pitcher produced a tough-luck inning-ending double play for the Nittany Lions in the bottom of the fourth, the Hawks came back and took the lead with three runs in the top of the fifth. Andy Meyers led off by beating out a bouncer down the first base line that bounced around Wine and Nakata was unable to field the ball in enough time to throw him out. Bottigliero then grounded a seeing-eye single through the right side and Collazo was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Pulsonetti then delivered the big blow of the inning, a two-run double down the right field line to tie the game and then, after the bases were loaded on a walk to Casale, McEndy drove in the third run of the inning with a groundout to third for the second out of the inning.
The Hawks were kept off the board in both the sixth and seventh by Lorentson as he finished strong, inducing an inning-ending double play in the sixth and getting three infield pop outs in the seventh to end his day.
Twelve of 13 straight Nittany Lions were retired from the end of the fourth through the beginning of the eighth innings. The Nits stranded a runner at third in the seventh.
Notes: Picconi has still reached base safely in every game this year....Pierce, a redshirt freshman lefthander, has retired all four batters he has faced on the year in two appearances....Lorentson's seven innings were a career high....Wine will likely move into third place for career putouts at Penn State tomorrow as he needs just four more to pass Chris Netwall on the all-time list. Wine recorded his 1,000th career putout in today's game and has 1,012 for his career while Netwall has 1,015. The career record is 1,193....The Nittany Lions will play tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. against Connecticut at the Santaluces Sports Complex in Lantana and throw Ryan Stobart. They will then bus down to Coral Gables, Fla. to take on Miami at 7:00 p.m. with Mike Wanamaker taking the hill.