May 2, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Penn State's offense was kept in check for most of the night by Michigan State starter Mike Monterey and six of seven of the Spartans' runs were unearned as they capitalized on four Nittany Lions errors to defeat Penn State 7-3 in the Big Ten series opener on Friday night. Penn State was held hitless after the fourth inning and was only able to collect four hits on the evening.
Ryan Stobart started for Penn State allowing just one earned run on nine hits and two walks while striking out two. But a high pitch count, partially due to two innings being extended due to errors, ended his night after five innings of work. David Lutz pitched a scoreless sixth inning, helping to turn a nice double play in his inning, and Paul Cianciolo kept the Spartans' bats quiet for three innings, allowing just three hits and no walks.
Rick Marlin went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs while Brian Ernst went 1-for-3 and scored two of Penn State's runs.
The Spartans struck first, tallying three unearned runs in the top of the second inning. After Stobart recorded the first out, Brandon Eckerle hit a nubber off the end of the bat to second and beat the throw for an infield single. Stobart then got Jeff Holm to hit a potential double-play grounder to second but Landon Nakata threw it into left field, leaving runners on the corners with one out. A Brandon Doherty groundout to shortstop brought Eckerle across the plate for MSU's first run. Steve Gerstenberger then lashed a double down the left field line, scoring Holm from second. Eric Roof singled up the middle to drive in Gerstenberger and put MSU up 3-0.
Ryan Stobart gave up just one earned run in five innings but took the hard-luck loss. |
Penn State answered back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs. Yodice beat out an infield single that neither the pitcher nor catcher could handle and Ernst followed with a base hit up the middle. They both advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch, and Yodice scored on a Cory Wine sacrifice fly to deep centerfield, while Ernst proceeded to take third. He scored when Marlin laced a line drive single into centerfield but that would all as the next two hitters grounded out for the final two outs of the inning.
The Nittany Lions tied the score 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning as Ernst walked, stole second and scored on a Marlin single to left. That single, however, would be Penn State's final hit of the game as it only had three more baserunners for the remainder of the game, with all three coming on walks.
The tie would not last long, however, as all nine Spartans batted in the top of the fifth inning as they added four more runs, but just one of them was earned as the Nittany Lions made three errors. Chris Roberts picked up his third consecutive hit of the game with a single to left, and advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt that got under Wine's glove at first. After advancing to third on a groundout, Roberts scored on a Justin Potes single to centerfield. Potes moved over to second as Jonathan Roof reached first on a groundball bobbled by Nakata at second. Potes then took third on a wild pitch. Blackburn reacted quickly by making a nice block behind the plate and tried to catch Potes at third, but his throw went into leftfield, allowing Potes to score while Roof moved from first to third. Eckerle worked a full count and drew a one-out walk. Holm laid down a bunt down the third base line and beat out Wes Borden's throw to load the bases for Doherty, who lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Roof. Gerstenberger then hit a single through the right side of the infield to score Eckerle and put the Spartans up 7-3. Stobart finally forced Eric Roof to ground out to third to end the inning.
Paul Cianciolo pitched three scoreless innings of relief. |
Lutz got into a little bit of trouble as he gave up two straight singles to begin the sixth but got himself out of it as he got Potes to pop up a bunt attempt back to him. He then pivoted and fired to second to double off Roberts and then struck out Eric Roof to end the inning. He was relieved by Cianciolo in the seventh, who created and then pitched out of a jam of his own in that frame. Eckerle knocked a double down the left field line, followed by a Holm single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Cianciolo picked off Holm at first, forced a groundout to third with the infield in, and struck out Gerstenberger to get out of the jam unscathed.
The Nittany Lions were unable to put together a late rally and left one on base in the seventh and two on base in the eighth.
The teams will play a doubleheader beginning tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. The games will be televised live by the Big Ten Network. They will be the first-ever televised games, college or professional, at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Notes: Ernst's hit in the second inning was his 216th career hit, putting him one behind Lance Thompson (2003-06) for fifth place in Penn State history....Borden's hitting streak ended tonight at 16 games as he went 0-for-4, however Ernst extended his hitting streak to 10 games, his longest and the second-longest streak of the year on the team, while Yodice extended his hitting streak to a career-long six games.