May 15, 2008
Coach Wine on the radio postgame show (mp3)
Minneapolis, Minn. - Penn State equaled its season high with 18 hits in its Big Ten series opener with Minnesota on Thursday night but all 18 were singles and the Nittany Lions were only able to score seven runs of those 18 hits and Minnesota jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the second inning and never trailed in an 11-7 win over the Nittany Lions.
Most of the damage was done by the top two hitters in the Golden Gopher lineup as leadoff hitter Matt Nohelty and number two hitter Eric Decker each went 4-for-5 with four runs scored apiece while Nohelty drove in two and Decker had three RBI.
For Penn State, Wes Borden went 4-for-6 in the leadoff spot while Landon Nakata and Joe Blackburn each went 3-for-5 with Nakata also having two RBI. Rick Marlin went 2-for-5 while Lou Picconi recorded his second straight multi-hit game as he went 2-for-4 and also scored three runs out of the nine spot in the order.
Despite the loss, the Nittany Lions remained in good shape for a Big Ten Tournament berth as Ohio State, Northwestern and Michigan State all lost on Thursday night. One more loss by Michigan State to Indiana will clinch a spot in the tournament for Penn State or two Penn State wins regardless of what the Spartans do in the remainder of their series. With just one more win, Penn State can also clinch a spot if Northwestern losses at least one more game to Michigan.
Penn State starter Mike Wanamaker gave up 12 hits and nine runs, seven earned, in four innings of work as he had only his third non-quality start out of 13 this year. David Lutz pitched the final four innings, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out four.
Lou Picconi scored a career high three runs and went 2-for-4. |
In the first, Nohelty led off by slapping a double down the left field line on the first pitch he saw from Wanamaker. That was followed by a single to right by Eric Decker to plate Nohelty and Decker later came home on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
The second inning featured five hits by the Gophers, starting with back-to-back singles by Derek McCallum and Mike Kvasnicka. Both runners were sacrificed up a base and then Wanamaker got closer to getting out of the mess by striking out number nine hitter Drew Hanish looking but cold not retired Nohelty as he singled up the middle to score two runs and after stealing second, he scored on Decker's second single of the game. Decker then came home on a double to deep center off the bat of Nate Hanson to make it 6-0.
Wanamaker worked out of a first-and-second, one-out jam without allowing a run in the third but in the fourth, Nohelty and Decker got to him again as Nohelty started the frame with another single up the middle before Decker drove a triple of deep right center to scored Nohelty and he then trotted home on a single to right by Jeff DeSmidt, who was later aided by a pair of errors in moving around the bases and later scored on a single by Kvasnicka, giving the Gophers a 9-0 lead.
After having plenty of baserunners but being unable to score in the first four innings of Minnesota starter Tom Buske, the Nittany Lions broke through in the fifth, as they scored four runs and batted around and knocked Buske out of the game as his pitch count went over 100 in the inning. Picconi drew a leadoff walk and Borden followed with a single. Borden got picked off first by the catcher DeSmidt for the first out but was replaced on first by Nakata, who drew another walk. Blackburn then singled to right to load the bases and Rob Yodice followed with single through the right side to score the first two Penn State runs of the game and that followed by another single off the bat of Ernst to scored one more run. One out later, Marlin drove a single through the left side to score Blackburn to make it 9-4 and knock out Buske. Reliever Chauncy Handran got Ryan Boonie to ground out to end the inning.
Landon Nakata drove in two and had three hits. |
Wanamaker left after four innings and Lutz took over on the mound for the Nittany Lions to start the fifth. Just as his predecessor did, Lutz had trouble with the top two hitters. After getting the first out, he gave up another back-to-back single to Nohelty and Decker and then another single to Hanson to score Nohelty and after hitting DeSmidt to load the bases, gave up an RBI single to center to Tom Steidl to give Minnesota an 11-4 lead. Lutz averted further damage by inducing an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play off the bat of McCallum.
The Nittany Lions got those two runs back in the top of the sixth to make a five-run game again. Picconi and Borden started the inning with back-to-back singles and each moved up on a wild pitch by Handran and then scored on a single up the middle by Nakata. Blackburn then singled but the Nittany Lions were unable to push any more runs across as Handran got a strikeout and a pair of groundouts to end the inning.
Lutz kept the Gophers off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game as he retired 10 of the final 12 hitters he faced. He gave up only a two-out double to Joe Maciej in the sixth and a one-out triple to McCallum in the eighth. He struck out the side in the seventh and managed to retire both Nohelty and Decker for the first time the second time he faced them both. Blackburn made a pair of nice plays coming out from behind the plate, the first time to throw out Nohelty on a little dribbler out in front of the plate to end the sixth and then to throw out Decker at first after he had struck out but the ball had gotten away from Blackburn to begin the seventh.
Penn State, however, was only able to get one more run after the sixth, that an unearned one coming with two outs in the ninth.
The teams will continue the four-game series tomorrow beginning at 5:05 p.m. (ET)/4:05 p.m. (CT). T.J. Macy and Ryan Stobart are expected to take the hill for the Nittany Lions.
Notes: This is the latest in the season that Penn State and Minnesota have ever played each other and only the second time in the month of May with the first coming in 1992....Borden recorded his first four-game game as a member of the Nittany Lions and the fourth four-hit game for a Nittany Lion this year, surpassing the number of four-hit games individual Nittany Lions had last year....Penn State also recorded 18 hits against Air Force and Illinois earlier this year.