March 23, 2008
Loren Crispell with pitching coach Bell on the postgame show (3-23) (mp3)
University Park, Pa. - Led by the masterful pitching of Mike Lorentson, Penn State took the rubber match against Lehigh in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader with a 2-0 win. The Nittany Lions scored two runs in the first inning and never looked back as they rode the pitching of Lorentson and Drew O'Neil to close out the game to pick up their first series win of the year.
Lorentson was brilliant through six innings, allowing just three hits, no runs and no walks while striking out three to help Penn State record its first shutout of the year and improve to 2-2 on the year. O'Neil picked up his third save of the year, pitching a scoreless seventh inning. Joe Blackburn led the offense, going 2-for-3 and stealing a base. Cory Wine knocked in a run while Wes Borden and Lou Picconi scored the Penn State runs.
The Nittany Lions came out strong in game two of the doubleheader, sitting down the Mountain Hawks in order in the first inning and then getting all the runs they would need in the first inning. Borden singled to center to lead off the first and Picconi executed a hit and run perfectly, stroking a single through the vacated right side to put runners on the corners in the bottom of the first. A wild pitch scored Borden from third for the first run and that was followed by a Brian Ernst walk. Joe Blackburn then beat out an infield single to load the bases with no outs for Wine, who lifted a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Picconi from third, giving Penn State the early 2-0 lead. Rick Marlin was hit by a pitch to load the bases once again, but he was doubled up at first after Berger grabbed a hard-hit line drive off the bat of Scott Kelley.
Penn State threatened to score again in the third after Ernst led off the inning with a single, which he followed up by stealing second. Wine drew a walk and a Marlin grounder up the middle, fielded cleanly by Berger, sent the runners to second and third, but that is where they would remain at the end of the inning.
Drew O'Neil recorded his third save in as many opportunities. |
In the top of the fourth, with the score still 2-0, both Borden and Picconi made nice plays on groundballs to their rights but bobbled them and Jack Greenberg mishandled a bunt at third, putting Lorentson in a bases-loaded, no outs predicament. But Lorentson bore down under pressure, striking out the next two batters and then fielding a groundball hit back up the middle to escape with the lead still intact. With a runner on first and one out in the top of the fifth, the middle infielders made some nifty fielding plays as Picconi fielded a grounder that grazed off Lorentson's glove and turned it into an inning-ending 1-6-4-3 double play to squash any hopes Lehigh had of scoring in that inning with a runner on first and one out.
O'Neil came in to finish off the Mountain Hawks in the seventh, striking out Laychur and forcing two infield pop outs to record his third save of the season.
Penn State will have one more tuneup prior to Big Ten play beginning next weekend as the Nittany Lions will take on Canisius tomorrow at 3:35 p.m. The game was added to the schedule last week to make up for the game against Penn being rained out on the spring break trip.
Notes: Penn State recorded its first shutout of the season....O'Neil, an All-American candidate, is now 3-for-3 in save opportunities on the year....Greenberg recorded hits in both games of the doubleheader in his second and third starts of the year....Landon Nakata pinch hit for Borden in the fourth and finished the game at second after not starting in any of the three games of the series due to minor back spasms....Wine has RBIs in three of his last five games....Penn State is now 9-for-10 on the year in stolen bases.