April 19, 2008
Coach Bell on the postgame radio show (mp3)
University Park, Pa. - Rob Yodice drove in two of Penn State's three runs in the game, including one on a game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh inning to score Wes Borden with the winning run and Paul Hawkins picked up his first win of the season and the first win for a Nittany Lion relief pitcher this year as Penn State clinched its first Big Ten series win of the season with a thrilling 3-2 win over Indiana in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader before 3,739, the second-largest crowd to ever see a Penn State baseball game.
Yodice went 2-for-3 in the game with his pair of RBI. Brian Ernst drove in the other Nittany Lion run in the first inning while Joe Blackburn went 2-for-4 with a run and Rick Marlin went 2-for-3 to lead the offense.
Penn State starter Mike Lorentson pitched five innings and scattered eight hits but only allowed two runs as he was helped by his defense, which threw out two runners on the basepaths and also did not commit an error for the third straight game. Lorentson stranded runners at second and third in the first and stranded the bases loaded in the fourth. Hawkins came on and pitched the final two innings, allowing two hits, however he picked off one of those runners at first in the sixth.
Indiana drew first blood in the game as the Hoosiers manufactured a run in the first. Andrew Means led off with a single up the middle, went to second on a sacrifice by Evan Crawford, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on Josh Phegley's RBI single through the left side.
Joe Blackburn went 2-for-4 and scored a run. |
The Nittany Lions, however, answered right back by tying it in the bottom of the first. Landon Nakata started things with a one-out single to center. One out later and after Nakata had gone to second on a wild pitch, Yodice walked and Ernst followed with an RBI single up the middle.
A pair of two-out hits by Blackburn and Yodice out of the three and four spots in the order gave the Lions a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third as Blackburn doubled to left center after the first two outs had been made, then went to third on another wild pitch and scored on Yodice's single up the middle.
Lorentson was helped by Yodice throwing out a runner trying to steal in the second to end the inning and then in the third, Means led off with a single and stole second and when the throw went off of him as he was sliding into the bag and caromed into short left center field, he took off for third, but a nice throw by Nakata just nipped a sliding Means for the first out of the inning.
The Hoosiers tied it in the fourth but Lorentson escaped a jam that could have resulted in far more damage. Chris Hervey led off the inning with a triple down the left field line that appeared to be a routine fly out but leftfielder Ryan Boonie appeared to lose the ball in the lights, allowing it to drop just inside the foul line. Hervey trotted home on a single to center by Kipp Schutz. Lorentson then got the first out of the inning when Ethan Wilson popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt and then got Dylan Swift to ground into a fielders' choice for the second out. He then gave up a single to center off the bat of Tyler Cox and another single to Means on a chopper that just got over Lorentson's head. With the bases loaded, he got Crawford to fly out to center.
Wes Borden beat out an infield hit, stole second and scored the game-winning run on Rob Yodice's single. |
Penn State mounted threats in both the fifth and sixth innings but both happened after the first two outs had been made. Blackburn was stranded at second in the fifth and runners were stranded a second and third in the sixth after a pair of singles.
In the seventh, Borden chopped a ball to second that Crawford had to charge in on and beat the throw to first, which was in the dirt anyway. With Nakata at the plate squaring to bunt, Borden took off for second and stole the base. Nakata then slapped the ball the other way for a groundout to second to advance Borden to third with just one out. Indiana reliever Doug Fleenor, who had taken over for starter Kyle Leiendecker with two outs in the fourth, got Blackburn to foul out to the catcher, who caught the ball just in front of the screen that runs along the backstop. But Yodice picked him up as he drove a 1-1 pitch back up the middle for the game-winning hit.
Notes: Penn State has not committed an error in the series thus far. The last time the Nittany Lions went an entire series without committing an error was almost exactly two years ago, April 21-23, 2006 at Northwestern....Hawkins' win was the first for the Penn State bullpen this year, as starters had picked up all 13 previous wins....By beating out the infield hit to begin the seventh, Borden extended his hitting streak to eight games, just one shy of Cory Wine's team-high nine-game hitting streak this year....He has raised his average by 64 points during his streak, during which he is hitting .429....Penn State is now 6-0 in games in which fireworks have followed the single-game or doubleheader at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park....This marked the third time that the Nittany Lions have won a game at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park in their final at-bat (either in the bottom of the ninth of seventh or in extra innings). The Lions also rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth last year against Northwestern and also beat Ohio State in the bottom of the tenth last year.