April 9, 2008
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Penn State, which had hit just eight home runs entering Wednesday's game at Pittsburgh, hit three home runs off Panther pitching and Drew O'Neil worked out of two big jams to preserve a late one-run lead as Penn State scored early and then held off Pitt late to defeat the Panthers 6-5 on Wednesday afternoon at Pitt's Trees Field.
In the team's first meeting since 2006, the Nittany Lions extended their winning streak over the Panthers to four straight games on the strength of home runs by Scott Kelley, Joe Blackburn and Ryan Boonie, the latter of which proved to be the difference in the game. Blackburn went 3-for-5 while Kelley equaled his career high with three RBIs. Rick Marlin also went 2-for-3.
In his second start of the year and the second of his career, Calvin Grumley pitched three innings to pick up his second win of the year, as he was once again held to a pitch count, allowing for him to pick up the win without pitching the minimum five innings. John Karr made his season debut and pitched a scoreless inning and Paul Hawkins and David Lutz also worked out of the pen for the Lions.
The Nittany Lions scored the most runs they have all season in the first inning on Wednesday as they pushed across four runs on six hits, the big blow being Kelley's second home run of the year. The inning started with three straight one-out singles by Landon Nakata, Rob Yodice and Blackburn, all to right center or right field. Cory Wine then grounded a ball to second that forced Blackburn at second but the relay throw to first was low and Wine reached on the fielder's choice, driving in Nakata for the first run of the inning. Kelley then worked the count full before tattooing a 3-2 pitch from Kevin Dooley over the 20-foot fence in left center to a three-run home run to put the Lions up 4-0.
Scott Kelley hit his second home run of the year and equalled a career high with three RBI. |
Blackburn extended the lead to 5-0 for the Nittany Lions in the top of the second as he hit his first home run in over three years, parking one over the wall in straight-away center field for his first home run since his redshirt season of 2005 that was cut short after just 10 games due to injury.
Pitt cut the lead to three by scoring two runs in the bottom of the second, ending Grumley's consecutive scoreless inning streak at five and one-third. After striking out the first hitter of the inning, Grumley gave up back-to-back singles to Joe Leonard and Chris Tonte and then walked Brian Trymbiski to load the bases. Zach Duggan then grounded a single through the left side to score two runs but Grumley escaped the jam by striking out leadoff hitter Jordan Herr and got Danny Lopez to fly out to center to limit the damage.
Grumley scattered two singles in the third inning but got out of the inning without allowing any runs and finished his second start of the year with three innings pitched, allowing five hits and the two runs while striking out four and walking just one. Karr, coming back from an injury, relieved Grumley to start the fourth inning and looked strong in just one inning of work, striking out the side in the fourth.
Karr left after the fourth and Hawkins entered in the fifth. He gave up back-to-back doubles to Philip Konieczny and Sean Conley and a single to right to Dan Williams to cut the Penn State lead to one 5-4 before getting the next three batters out on a pair of groundouts and a strikeout to end the inning.
Dooley and relief pitcher Mike Wood kept the Nittany Lions off the scoreboard after the second inning. Dooley worked scoreless third and fourth innings before being relieved by Wood with two outs in the fifth and Wood finished the fifth and then worked scoreless sixth and seventh innings, striking out five.
Reliever Cole Taylor entered to start the eighth inning for the Panthers and got Marlin on a fly out for the first out of the inning. Boonie then pinch hit for Wes Borden and on a 2-1 pitch, drove the ball over the fence in left center for his first career home run, roughly to the same point the Kelley's round-tripper went in the first inning, to give the Lions an insurance run to make it 6-4.
Joe Blackburn hit his first home run in over three years on Wednesday. |
That run would prove to be crucial because in the bottom of the eighth, David Lutz, who had worked a scoreless seventh inning, ran into some trouble. He walked leadoff hitter Tonte on a close 3-2 pitch. After getting a force out at second on a fielder's choice, he gave up a seeing-eye single up the middle to Duggan and then an infield bunt single to Herr that loaded the bases. He was pulled in favor of Drew O'Neil, who struck out Konieczny but the third strike went to the backstop for a wild pitch, allowing one run to score and the other two runners to move up to second and third. The wild pitch may have actually benefited the Nittany Lions, however, as it enabled them to intentionally walk Pitt's leading hitter, Conley, to reload the bases and face Williams, whom O'Neil struck out to end the threat.
John Karr made his first appearance of the year and struck out the side in the fourth inning. |
The ninth inning was a tense as O'Neil walked leadoff hitter Nick Mullins, who spoiled some good pitches to work the walk and he later went to second on a wild pitch. O'Neil then came back to strike out Leonard looking and Tonte swinging to put the Panthers down to their final out. But Chris Warner drew another walk to bring Duggan to the plate, who was 3-for-4 on the day at that point. But O'Neil worked the count to 2-2 on Duggan before getting him to ground a ball to third and Greenberg threw to second for the force to end the game.
Notes: Blackburn's last home run prior to today was on March 8 ,2005 against Gonzaga at the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic in Fresno, Calif....Kelley's home run gave him a career high for home runs in a season with his second, surpassing the one he hit last year in his first year as a position player....Boonie's pinch hit home run was the first pinch hit home run for Penn State since Rob Yodice's pinch hit grand slam at Oral Roberts on March 16 of last year....Wednesday's game was Penn State's first on an artificial surface this year. Pitt's Trees Field has an AstroTurf infield and a grass outfield....Both of Penn State's Pittsburgh-area natives appeared in the game, with Karr (Gibsonia) getting his inning of work on the mound and Jack Greenberg (Upper St. Clair) entering the game at third base in the bottom of the eighth after Boonie pinch hit for Borden....O'Neil remains perfect in save situations, now 6-for-6....Wine recorded just five putouts in the game and now needs six to break the school record for a career....Penn State now leads Pitt 84-38-1 in the all-time series. All four of the Nittany Lions' current four-game winning streak over the Panthers have come either on the road or at neutral sites.