May 17, 2008
Minneapolis, Minn. - Penn State limited to just one earned run in nine innings by a pair of Minnesota pitchers and the Golden Gophers scored single run in four different innings and held off the Nittany Lions 4-2 in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, Penn State finishes the regular season 26-29 overall and 17-15 in the Big Ten.
Penn State missed out on a chance to wrap up third place with the loss, as a win would have clinched third place and the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. As it stands, Penn State now must wait for the result of the Purdue-Illinois game from today to find out whether it will be the third or fourth seed. If Purdue can defeat Illinois in the second game of those teams' doubleheader today (Illinois won the first game), then the Nittany Lions will be the third seed and will face sixth-seeded Indiana in the first game on Wednesday. If Illinois wins, the Lions will finish in fourth place and will be the fourth seed and will face fifth-seeded Ohio State on Wednesday.
Mike Lorentson turned in a decent start as he scattered 13 hits but allowed just four runs in 6.1 innings. He struck out two and walked two. Paul Hawkins pitched the final 1.2 innings, striking out three and escaping a jam in the seventh inning. Dustin Brabender threw 7.2 innings for the Gophers and allowed nine hits but just two runs, one earned while striking out five and walking two.
Ryan Boonie went 3-for-4 for the Nittany Lions while Landon Nakata went 2-for-4. Rob Yodice drove in both runs for the Nittany Lions, who had 10 hits in the game.
The Gophers scored one run in the first as they stringed together a pair of singles following a two-out walk to Nate Hanson on a 3-2 pitch. That followed Lorentson getting a double play ball of Jeremy Chlan's bat for the first two outs of the inning. Back-to-back singles by Jeff DeSmidt and Mike Kvasnicka then sent Hanson home to make it 1-0.
Rob Yodice drove in two more runs on Saturday. |
In the third, the Gophers extended it to a 2-0 lead as Matt Nohelty led off with a double to left and scored on a single by Chlan. Hanson followed with another single but Lorentson worked out of the jam by getting an infield pop out and then his second double play of the game off the bat of Kvasnicka to end the inning.
Penn State took advantage of a passed ball by DeSmidt in the fourth to cut the lead to 2-1. Blackburn drove a one-out double to left center and then advanced to third on the passed ball. He then scored on Yodice's single that dropped just out of the reach of the second baseman and into short center field.
The Nittany Lions were unable to take advantage of a scoring chance in the fifth when Cory Wine, Rick Marlin and Boonie all singled to start the inning but Wine was picked off first base prior to Marlin's single and Brabender got Lou Picconi to fly out and Wes Borden to pop out to end the inning.
Minnesota made it a 4-1 lead in the sixth as Joe Maciej singled, was sacrificed to second, and then scored on Nohelty's single to left. The Gophers threatened again in the seventh as DeSmidt drew a one-out walk and Kvasnicka doubled. But Paul Hawkins came on in relief of Lorentson and struck out Tom Steidl and got pinch hitter Eric Decker to fly out to keep the game within reach.
The last opportunity for the NIttany Lions came in the eighth inning but they were only able to push across one run. Picconi singled up the middle with one out and one out later, Nakata singled to left and Blackburn followed by drawing a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Brabender pitched carefully to Yodice and walked him on four pitches to force in a run. The walk spelled the end of the day for Brabender as reliever Seth Rosin came in and got Brian Ernst to fly out to left to end the threat. Rosin allowed a two-out hit to Boonie in the ninth but that was all.
The Nittany Lions will now either play Indiana or Ohio State on Wednesday to open up the Big Ten Tournament. Game times will be announced later.
Notes: Penn State had 10 or more hits in all four games in the series and overall have had 10 or more hits in six straight games....Hawkins tied O'Neil for the team lead in appearances and both are now tied for fourth place on the Penn State single season appearance list.