March 30, 2008
Coach Wine's postgame radio interview
Columbus, Ohio - Ryan Stobart pitched a career high eight innings for his second career complete game and allowed just one earned run in the best performance of his Penn State career but he was outdueled by Ohio State's J.B. Shuck, who also threw eight innings and battled through some early control problems to strike out 13 and give up just four hits as the Buckeyes salvaged a split in the opening Big Ten series of the year with a 2-0 win over the Nittany Lions on Sunday.
Stobart allowed six hits and two runs, only one of which was earned, walked three and struck out five in taking a hard-luck loss. Shuck allowed just four hits and walked five, four of which were in the first five innings. Ohio State outhit Penn State 6-4, but no Buckeye had more than one hit. Joe Blackburn went 2-for-4 for the Nittany lions
Most of Penn State's baserunners in the early part of the game came with two outs. In the first, Rob Yodice drew a two-out walk and Blackburn followed with a solid single to left but Cory Wine grounded out to second. In the second, Rick Marlin drew a leadoff walk but was picked off. In the fifth, Lou Picconi drew a two-out walk and Wes Borden followed with a single to left but Shuck struck out Brian Ernst to end the frame.
Stobart worked out of a couple of jams in the early innings for Penn State. He got a lineout for a double play in the first, worked around a leadoff single in the second and a one-out double in the third.
In the fifth, Stobart nearly got out of another jam but just missed stranding a runner on third. A leadoff walk came back to haunt him as he walked Dan Burkhart to lead off the frame. Burkhart went to second on a sacrifice and then scooted down the third on a groundout to second for the second out of the inning. Tony Kennedy then hit a ball into the hole between short and third that Borden was not able to field at third. Picconi made a nice play to come up with the ball but his throw to first and not in time, giving Kennedy an infield RBI single for the first run of the game.
Penn State put its first two runners on in the sixth on a walk to Yodice and another single by Blackburn. Wine then grounded into a fielder's choice, putting runners at the corners with one out. But Shuck struck out both Marlin and Ryan Boonie to end the inning, the latter of which pushed him over 100 pitches.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, the Buckeyes benefited from a two-out error that allowed Cory Rupert to reach base as Picconi's throw from short pulled Wine just off the bag at first. Zach Hurley made the Nittany Lions pay for the mistake as he drove a triple over the head of Ernst in center field to plate Rupert and make it 2-0.
Stobart worked out of another jam in the seventh as he gave up a leadoff single to Tyler Engle but then got a flyout, a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
The Nittany Lions narrowly missed breaking the game open in the top of the eighth as two hard hit balls were caught in the outfield. After Ernst led off with his first hit of the day, a single up the middle, Yodice drove a ball deep to right field on a 3-2 pitch from Shuck, but his deep fly was caught just in front of the warning track. Blackburn followed by ripping the first pitch he saw from Shuck into the gap in right center but center fielder Hurley made a diving catch to rob Blackburn and keep the game scoreless. He then fired the ball back into the infield to double off Ernst, who was halfway between second and third when the catch was made.
Eric Best came on in the ninth inning to earn the save for the Buckeyes, retiring the Nittany Lions in order.
Penn State will open a five-game homestand on Wednesday night as they will host Bucknell in the annual Battle of Route 45 at 6:35 p.m. The Nittany Lions will then host Michigan next weekend in their first home Big Ten series of the year.