April 19, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Mike Wanamaker scattered seven hits in his second complete game of the season and allowed just one run while striking out six and walking none and he was backed by the best run support he has received all season as five Nittany Lions had multiple hits and three had multiple RBIs as Penn State took a 2-0 lead on Indiana in the series with an 8-1 win on Saturday afternoon in the first game of a doubleheader.
The top three hitters in the Penn State order, Wes Borden, Landon Nakata and Joe Blackburn, each drove in two runs apiece to lead the offense while the number six, seven, and eight hitters, Cory Wine, Rick Marlin and Ryan Boonie, each had two hits and scored two runs apiece. Borden and Blackburn each went 2-for-4 while Wine went 2-for-3 and Marlin and Boonie each went 2-for-2.
The Nittany Lions struck first with a single run in the first inning with two batters as Borden led off with a bloop double to center field that dropped between the second baseman and centerfielder and Borden came home on a single through the left side by Nakata.
In the second, Penn State put together a two-out rally to push across two runs, both of which were unearned due to an Indiana error. After the first two outs of the inning had been made, Marlin drew a two-out walk and that was followed by an infield hit by Boonie. Lou Picconi then hit a grounder to short but Ethan Wilson's throw to first bounced in the dirt, loading the bases. Borden then delivered his second hit of the day, a two-run single up the middle to score Marlin and Boonie to make it 3-0.
Joe Blackburn knocked in two runs with a big two-run triple and went 2-for-4. |
Penn State made it 4-0 with another unearned run in the fourth inning, taking advantage of a passed ball by Indiana. Wine and Marlin led off the inning with back-to-back singles and both were sacrificed up a base by Boonie. Wine came home on the passed ball by Josh Phegley when Picconi was at the plate.
Indiana answered with its lone run of the game in the fifth inning as Jerrud Sabourin led off with a single and scored on Wilson's double to left center. Wanamaker hit Tyler Cox with a pitch to put runners on first and second with just one out but he escaped the jams with a strikeout and a groundout.
A four-run sixth inning pulled the Lions away with an 8-1 lead, with a two-run triple by Blackburn being the big hit of the inning. The frame started with three straight singles by Wine, Marlin and Boonie, the latter of which scored Wine for the first run. Picconi was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a strikeout, Nakata grounded into a fielder's choice to force Picconi at second and score Marlin before Blackburn drove a triple to deep left center that just went off the glove of a diving Andrew Means to score two more runs.
Wanamaker gave up a leadoff double and then hit a batter to start the seventh but came back to get two fly outs to right sandwiched around his sixth strikeout of the contest to end it.
Notes: Borden now has a seven-game hitting streak and is hitting .458 in that seven-game span....This marked the first game this year that Wanamaker has not walked a batter....Penn State did not commit an error for the second straight game.