May 21, 2008
Coach Bell on the postgame podcast (mp3)
Loren Crispell chats with M. Wanamaker following the game (mp3)
Coach Wine and M. Wanamaker at the postgame press conference (mp3)
Ann Arbor, Mich. - Mike Wanamaker pitched a complete game seven-hitter and allowed just one run and helped himself by inducing three double play balls to lead Penn State to a 6-1 win over Indiana in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday afternoon. A four-run fifth inning broke open made a 1-0 game into a 5-0 game and Wanamaker worked out of a few jams from then until the end of the game to give the Nittany Lions their first win in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament since 2003.
Wes Borden went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored while Rob Yodice knocked in two runs with a two-run single in the four-run fifth, his sixth straight game with an RBI and his third straight with multiple RBI. Rick Marlin went 2-for-3 with an RBI as well while Lou Picconi also scored a run and went 2-for-4.
Wanamaker kept the Hoosiers' leading hitter, Josh Phegley, off the bases as he went 0-for-4 with three foul pop outs and grounded into a double play in his other at bat. Indiana starter Eric Arnett allowed nine hits and all six runs in 5.2 innings, walking four and striking out three.
The teams traded zeros on the scoreboard in each of the first three innings, with each team getting two hits and committing one error and having one scoring chance apiece but being unable to take advantage of it.
Wes Borden scored a pair of runs and went 3-for-5. |
Penn State broke though in the fourth inning and took a 1-0 lead. Brian Ernst drew a one-out walk and went to second on a wild pitch that was also the third strike to Cory Wine for the second out. Then, on a 1-2 pitch to Rick Marlin, Ernst broke for third and Marlin lined the ball through the left side in left field as Ernst barely avoided getting hit by the ball but came home to score the first run of the game.
The Nittany Lions then broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the fifth as they bat around. Lou Picconi started the inning by lining the first pitch he saw from Arnett up the middle for a single. Wes Borden then lined a ball to nearly the same place up the middle that the second baseman knocked down was did not have a play. Both runners moved up on Landon Nakata's second sacrifice of the game. The Hoosiers then elected to intentionally walk Joe Blackburn to face Rob Yodice, who lined a 1-0 pitch into right field to score both Picconi and Borden and Blackburn went to third when Evan Crawford bobbled the ball in right. Blackburn scored on Ernst's fielder's choice grounder to make it 4-0. Ernst then took off for second on a 0-1 pitch to Wine, who ripped the pitch into left center field, scoring Ernst all the way from first to make it 5-0.
Wanamaker allowed just four baserunners - two singles, a walk and an error - in the first five innings. The Hoosiers put together a short rally in the sixth as David Trager was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and that was followed by consecutive singles by Tyler Cox and Andrew Means, the latter of which drove in Trager and put runners at first and second. Chris Hervey then sacrificed both runners over, putting runners at second and third with one out and Indiana's three and four hitters, Phegley and Jerrud Sabourin, coming to the plate. But Wanamaker worked out of the jam without allowing any more runs as he got Phegley to foul out to second on the first pitch and then Sabourin also swung at the first pitch and lined a ball right at Borden at third base for the third out.
Rob Yodice drove in two runs and has RBI in each of his last six games. |
Penn State got that run right back in the sixth as it capitalized on an Indiana error. With one out, Borden reached when Tyler Rogers was unable to handle his grounder. He went to second on passed ball and scored on Nakata's single through the left side that went through a vacated hole created when the shortstop Cox went to cover second for a potential pickoff throw, but Arnett threw home instead. Arnett would last just two more hitters before being relieved by Anthony Agnew, who would finish the game.
Wanamaker got into a little trouble in the eighth as he gave up a one-out infield single to Means and then walked Hervey, who battled back from an 0-2 count to draw the free pass. But Wanamaker got Phegley to foul out to Wine at first and then got Sabourin to ground into an inning-ending fielder's choice. He then gave up a leadoff single in the ninth as he was getting to the 100-pitch mark but got Kipp Schutz to ground into the third double play of the day turned by Penn State.
With the win, Penn State advance on to take on Purdue tomorrow at 3:35 p.m. The game will mark the first-ever matchup between Purdue and Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament.
Notes: The complete game for Wanamaker is the first nine-inning complete game for a Nittany Lions since Craig Clark threw a complete game shutout on April 30, 2006, also against Indiana. Ryan Stobart threw a complete game in a nine-inning game earlier this year against Ohio State but only went eight innings because the Nittany Lions lost....Yodice now also has multiple RBI in four of his last six games and has at least one RBI in eight of his last nine contests....With his two RBI, Yodice moved into a tie for seventh place with Eric Gates (1992) on the Penn State single season RBI list with 51 RBI....Ernst moved into a tie for sixth place on the single season hits list with Wes Roehr (2002) with 75 hits on the year....Picconi moved into fourth place on the single season list for defensive assists with 164, behind third place Nakata who now has 172, just 11 behind second place Matt Cavagnaro (2007)....With today's win over Indiana combined with the four-game sweep earlier this year, this marks the first time in program history that Penn State has defeated a Big Ten opponent five times in a single season....Tomorrow, Penn State will attempt to win its first two games at the Big Ten Tournament for the first time ever, as no Nittany Lions team has ever won its first two games at the tournament....Penn State's last win in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament prior to today was over Northwestern, exactly five years ago today on May 21, 2003.