May 16, 2008
Coach Wine on the radio postgame show (mp3)
Minneapolis, Minn. - Rob Yodice went 4-for-4 with two home runs and drove in six runs as Penn State topped Minnesota 9-7 in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader to move into third place in the Big Ten with just one more game to play in the regular season. Yodice was just a double short of the cycle as he recorded his second multi-home run game of the year and became the first Penn State player in just over two years to have six RBI in a game.
Wes Borden went 3-for-3 and drew two walks as he reached base in all five plate appearances while also scoring two runs. Brian Ernst went 3-for-3 and reached base all four times at the plate and also drove in a run. Ryan Boonie went 2-for-4 and seven of the nine Nittany Lions in the starting lineup recorded a hit.
Ryan Stobart gave the Nittany Lions six solid innings and yielded just four earned runs (six overall) to pick up the win, improving to 3-4 on the year. Drew O'Neil tied his own school record by picking up his 11th save of the year as he closed out the game by pitching the seventh inning. His impressive streak of not allowing an earned run to a Big Ten team during the regular season came to an end, however, as he allowed his first regular season earned run to a Big Ten team in his career in the seventh.
Ryan Stobart turned in a quality start and picked up his third win of the year with a six-inning outing. |
With the win in game two and Illinois' two losses to Purdue today, Penn State took over third place in the Big Ten at 17-14, also the first time this year the Nittany Lions have been three games over .500 in Big Ten play. By winning tomorrow, Penn State can clinch third place and the third seed in the Big Ten Tournament. One more win by Purdue over Illinois will also accomplish the same, regardless of Penn State's result tomorrow. The Nittany Lions can finish no lower than fourth place.
The first inning was similar to the first inning of the first game, as Penn State scored a pair of runs with two outs in the first and then Minnesota cutting the lead in half with a run in the bottom half of the inning. Wes Borden started out the game by dropping a bunt down the third base line and beating it out for a leadoff single. He was sacrificed to second by Landon Nakata and went to third on a Joe Blackburn groundout. He trotted home on Yodice's first big knock of the game, this one an RBI triple to right center. Yodice then scored when Ernst reached out and poked the first pitch he saw into short left for a single.
In the bottom of the first, Matt Nohelty slapped a single into left to lead off and went to second on a groundout by Eric Decker. A single to left by Nate Hanson moved Nohelty to third and he scored on Jeff DeSmidt's sacrifice fly.
The Gophers would go on to take the lead 3-2 in the second inning by Decker ripped a two-out, two-run triple down the right field line to plate Jon Hummel and Nohelty.
Brian Ernst reached base all four times at the plate and went 3-for-3 with an RBI. |
It remained 3-2 until the fourth inning when the Nittany Lions benefitted from Yodice's next big knock of the night, his first home run of the game as they scored four to take a 6-3 lead. The inning started with a one-out single by Picconi to right field and that was followed by a walk to Borden and a single to left by Nakata. Blackburn then drove in Picconi with a sacrifice fly to deep left and also moved the other two runners up a base. Yodice then drove a 2-1 pitch deep to center and off the batters' eye over the 390 sign in straight-away center for a three-run home run. After an infield hit off the bat of Ernst and plunking Wine with a pitch, the day ended early for Minnesota starter Dustin Klabunde after just three and two-thirds innings. Reliever Cullen Sexton came on to get the final out of the inning.
Minnesota benefitted from a pair of errors by Picconi in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 6-5. Picconi first booted a one-out grounder off the bat of DeSmidt and that was followed by back-to-back singles by Derek McCallum and Mike Kvasnicka. Stobart struck out Tom Steidl but on one of the strikes to him got away for a wild pitch, allowing DeSmidt to score. Hummel then reached when Picconi's throw to first on a grounder to short was in the dirt and Wine was unable to scoop it, allowing McCallum to score. Stobart got Jeremy Chlan to ground out to first to end the inning with the lead still intact.
Another bomb off the bat of Yodice put the lead right back to three runs, 8-5, in the top of the sixth. Blackburn got on base first with a one-out double down the right field line and Yodice followed by hammering a 3-2 pitch high and deep to center once again and again off the batters' eye, giving him his second two-home run game of the year and three home runs in the doubleheader.
Wes Borden reached base in all five plate appearances and went 3-for-3 with a pair of runs. |
Minnesota cut it to a two-run game with a run in the sixth as it got a one-out double by Decker off the right field wall and one out later, he scored on a single through the left side by DeSmidt.
Penn State scored an unearned run off the third Minnesota pitcher of the night, Scott Matyas, in the top of the seventh to make it a three-run game again, 9-6. Ryan Boonie started the inning with a single up the middle and was sacrificed to second by Picconi. Borden then beat out an infield hit and moved up a base and Boonie scored when the throw to first went sailing into the Minnesota dugout.
In the bottom of the seventh, Kvasnicka led off with a single that dropped just in front of Ernst in center field. Pitch hitter Kyle Knudson walked but then O'Neil got Hummel to ground into a 4-6-3 double play that was nicely turned by Nakata and Picconi was the ball took a high hop into Nakata's glove at second but he still managed to spin, throw to second and then Picconi threw to first to just beat Hummel, making it two outs and a runner on third. O'Neil then challenged Chlan on the first pitch but Chlan drove a single the other way into right field to score Kvasnicka for the first earned run allowed by O'Neil to a Big Ten team in the regular season in his career. He then got the speedy Nohelty to ground out to short to end the game.
Drew O'Neil gave up the first earned run of his career in Big Ten play during the regular season but picked up his 11th save of the year, tying his own school record from last year. |
The Nittany Lions will close out the regular season tomorrow afternoon and look to wrap up third place with a 4:05 p.m. (ET)/3:05 p.m. (CT) game with the Golden Gophers. Mike Lorentson is expected to take the hill for the Nittany Lions.
Notes: Penn State has now had three players combine for four multi-home run games this year after Penn State had not had a player hit two home runs in a game since 2002 coming into this year. Yodice has now hit two HRs in a game twice, also doing it against Purdue earlier this year, and both Wine and Scott Kelley also had two-home run games at Illinois earlier this year....Yodice's two home runs also marked the third time this year that a Nittany Lion has homered in consecutive at-bats, as Yodice did so in the aforementioned Purdue game as did Wine against Illinois....Yodice became the first player since Matt Cavagnaro to drive in six runs in a game. Cavagnaro did it against Michigan on May 13, 2006....Yodice also became the fifth different Penn State player to record a four-hit game this year, joining Ernst, Blackburn, Borden (who did it last night) and Rick Marlin....Ernst has now hit in seven straight games and in 19 of his last 20 games and has reached base safely in 20 straight games. He his hitting .500 (20-for-40) in his last 12 games and has recorded at least one RBI in seven straight games....Penn State will look for its first series win over Minnesota since 1997 tomorrow....Picconi recorded his 13th sacrifice bunt of the year, which leads the Big Ten and is just one sac hit shy of tying him for second place on the Penn State season sacrifice list....This marked the third time in his career that O'Neil recorded saves in both games of a Big Ten doubleheader....Both of O'Neil's two earned runs given up to a Big Ten team have come against Minnesota and amazingly, both RBI hits have been by Jeremy Chlan....O'Neil moved into a tie for fourth place on the Penn State single-season appearance list with his 25th of the year....Four spots in the Big Ten Tournament have now been clinched as both the Nittany Lions and Illinois locked up spots today. Ohio State, Northwestern and Indiana was now battling for the final two spots. Michigan State has been eliminated.