April 13, 2008
West Lafayette, Ind. - For the second straight Sunday, Penn State avoided a sweep by scoring 10 or more ýruns as the Nittany Lions rode a strong pitching performance by Seth Whitehill and a 17-hit attack, ýincluding two home runs off the bat of Rob Yodice, to top Purdue 13-3 in the series finale on Sunday ýafternoon. Whitehill threw seven strong innings to run his career record against Purdue to 3-0 while six ýdifferent Penn State players had multiple hits. ý
Whitehill, who had thrown seven-inning complete games against Purdue in each of the last two years, went ýseven more innings on Sunday, allowing just two runs on two hits while striking out five and walking four. ýAside from the third inning, when he allowed his only two runs of the game, he allowed only one Purdue ýrunner to get as far as second base. He retired 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced and 13 of the final 16 ýbatters he faced. ý
The offense was led by Yodice, who went 3-for-4 and equaled his career high with three runs and four RBI. ýWes Borden went 3-for-6 with a pair of runs and RBI. Brian Ernst also knocked in a pair and scored a pair ýas he went 2-for-5. Landon Nakata went 2-for-5, Ryan Boonie went 2-for-4 with an RBI while Lou Picconi ýwent 2-for-5. Rick Marlin also scored a pair of runs. ý
Penn State scored first for the third time in the four games of the series as Cory Wine came up with a two-ýout RBI single to left to drive in Wes Borden, who had singled, moved up to second on a wild pitch and ýtook third on a groundout. ý
The Nittany Lions extended that lead to 2-0 in the second inning as Ryan Boonie came up with a one-out ýdouble to right center to score Rick Marlin, who had drawn a one-out walk. ý
Wes Borden went 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBI. |
Some wildness by the Purdue pitching staff was taken advantage of by the Nittany Lions in the third to ýpush across three more runs to take a 5-0 lead. The first three batters of the inning, Landon Nakata, Joe ýBlackburn and Cory Wine, all drew walks to load the bases off relief pitcher Kevin Cahill, who had ýrelieved starter Connor Sestak after just two innings. Cahill lasted only three hitters before he was relieved ýby Drew Wurdack, who was greeted by a two-run single by Brian Ernst through the left side of the drawn-ýin infield. That was followed by the fourth walk of the inning, this one to Yodice to reload the bases, and ýthen a sacrifice fly off the bat of Marlin to score Wine with the third run of the inning. A strikeout-caught ýstealing double play ended the inning. ý
For the first time in his career, Whitehill gave up runs to Purdue as the Boilermakers scored two in the ýbottom of the third inning to cut the lead to 5-2. The Boilers benefited from a couple of free passes to start ýthe inning as well as Jon Moore walked and Jonathan Lilly was hit by a pitch. Both runners were sacrificed ýover and Moore came home on a sacrifice fly to center by Brandon Haveman and Lilly scored on a single ýby Ben Wolgamot that dropped just in front of Boonie in left. ý
Penn State answered right back by getting those two runs right back in the fourth, which started by Lou ýPicconi ripping a double down the line in left on the first pitch he saw from Wurdack. Borden the grounded ýhis second single of the day up the middle to score Picconi and end the day for Wurdack. Tony Sedlmeyer ýentered as the fourth Boilermaker pitcher of the day and and Nakata greeted him with a single through the ýleft side on a perfectly executed hit-and-run play that allowed Borden to go to third.. Blackburn followed ýby grounding into a fielder's choice to send home Bordený
The Nittany Lions extended the lead by one more run in the fifth, taking advantage of a Purdue error and ýstringing together three more singles, including two infield hits. Yodice started the inning with an infield ýhit and one out later, Boonie singled through the left side. Picconi then beat out another infield single that ýwent into the hole between first and second and every runner moved up one additional base, including ýYodice crossing the plate, when Wolgamont's throw to first to attempt to throw out Picconi went wild. ý
Brian Ernst went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs and RBI and is now just one hit shy of 200 for his career. |
Yodice got some much-deserved retribution in the sixth inning as, two days after being robbed of a home ýrun due to the wind knocking down a well-hit ball off his bat to right, he deposited a ball over the fence in ýright field with much less wind present on Sunday. The home run was his second of the year and came with ýtwo outs after Ernst had been hit by a pitch after the first two betters had been retired. ý
That same scenario was nearly repeated in the top of the eighth inning, this time with no outs and off a ýdifferent pitcher but with the same result. This time, off Allan Donato, the fifth Boiler pitch of the day, ýErnst led off the inning with a single through the right side for his second hit of the day and Yodice ýfollowed by hitting another deep drive to right center with this one bouncing off the scoreboard beyond the ýwall in right center for his second home run of the day, the first Nittany Lion player since 2003 to hit two ýhome runs in a game. ý
Purdue picked up one run in the eighth off reliever Paul Hawkins while Drew O'Neil came in the close out ýof the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. ý
Notes: Ernst's RBI single in the third inning was the 198th hit of his career, moving him into seventh place ýalone on the Penn State career hit list. He passed former teammate Michael Milliron, who had 197....Ernst ýneeds just one more hit for 200 in his career....In his previous two career starts against Purdue, Whitehill ýhad pitched two complete-game, seven-inning shutouts. His consecutive scoreless innings streak against ýPurdue was snapped at 16.1 innings....Whitehill now has a career ERA of 0.86 against the ýBoilermakers....Picconi has now reached base safely in 25 out of 29 games in which he has recorded a ýplate appearance this year....Nakata ended the series with a .385 average and a .600 on-base percentage for ýthe series as he reached base in 23 out 36 plate appearances....For the year, Nakata has reached base safely ýin 25 out of 28 games that he has played in and has reached base in 13 straight games....Wine now has an ýeight-game hitting streak, equaling his career high....Yodice became the first Penn State player in nearly ýfive years to hit two home runs in a game. The last to do so were Adam Warchal and Mike DeRenzo both ýdid so against Indiana on May 2, 2003. Yodice also did it in consecutive at-bats....Wine stole his seventh ýbase of the year and is now just one swipe shy of doubling up his career total entering this year. He has just ýfour stolen bases in his first two seasons....O'Neil lowered his ERA to 0.64 with his scoreless ninth.ý