May 22, 2008
Coach Wine at the postgame press conference (mp3)
Ann Arbor, Mich. - Three Penn State players recorded multiple hits and Rob Yodice hit his ninth home run of the year but Purdue got two home runs and six RBI from Dan Black and scored nine runs in the first two innings off Penn State starter Seth Whitehill and never trailed in a 15-6 win over the Nittany Lions on Thursday afternoon in the Lions' second game of the Big Ten Tournament.
The loss drops Penn State to the consolation bracket, where they will play at 3:35 p.m. tomorrow against on opponent to be determined. The Nittany Lions will face either Indiana, Illinois or Michigan. Indiana, which eliminated Ohio State in the first game today, will face the loser of tonight's Illinois-Michigan game at 12:05 p.m. tomorrow in the first elimination game of the day. The winner of that game will then play the Nittany Lions in the second elimination game of the day. All games tomorrow will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.
Seven of the nine starters in the Purdue lineup recorded multiple hits, led by Black's 4-for-4 day. The Boilers scored in five of eight innings at bat.
Wes Borden and Rick Marlin each went 2-for-4 with a run scored while Brian Ernst also went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Yodice scored a pair of runs and drove in three on his three-run homer in the third.
Rick Marlin went 2-for-4 with a run on Thursday's game. |
A couple of balls lost in the sun by Penn State outfielders combined with a couple of bloop hits into the shallow outfield and a pair of seeing-eye hits all combined to produce six runs for Purdue in the bottom of the first inning. Brandon Haveman started the inning by lining a high fly ball to left field that Ryan Boonie lost in the sun and had it drop just out of the reach of his glove and just inside the foul line for a leadoff triple. He scored on Ben Wolgamot's bloop single to right that fell just in front of a charging Marlin into shallow right. Ryne White then singled through the right side to send Wolgamot to third, who then scored on Black's sacrifice fly to center. After Jordan Comdena struck out looking, John Cummins singled to center and Jon Moore drew a walk to load the bases. Jon Lilly followed with a liner to center that Ernst initially came in on but then reversed direction and had it go over his head and all the way to the wall, making it a bases-clearing triple. Lilly then trotted home on a bloop double into short left by Nick Overmyer that fell just in between Lou Picconi and Boonie. Whitehill would get Haveman to ground out to end the inning.
Penn State scored one in the second as the Nittany Lions their first two hitters on with Yodice getting hit by a pitch and Ernst followed with a double to left. Yodice came home on Wine's sacrifice fly to right to make it 6-1.
Whitehill got into trouble again in the second, giving up three more runs and being lifted after just 1.2 innings. He gave up a one-out single to White and then Black hit his first home run of the game, a two-run shot to right to make it 8-1. One out later, Cummins doubled to right center, ending the day for Whitehill and bringing in Ryan Stobart, who gave up an RBI single to Moore before getting the final out of the inning.
Brian Ernst collected two hits and moved into a tie for fourth place on the Penn State single-season hits list. |
The Nittany Lions got back into the game in the top of the third as Yodice hit his ninth home run of the year, a three-run shot with two outs to make it 9-4. The shot went over the scoreboard in right field at Ray Fisher Stadium, well out of the yard. Borden had singled with one out and Joe Blackburn had drawn a two-out walk to set the stage for Yodice's blast.
However, after a scoreless third inning by Stobart, the Nittany Lions were unable to keep the Boilermakers off the scoreboard for the next three innings. Purdue scored three more in the fourth, two more coming on another two-run home run by Black. The Boilers also got one in the fifth off David Lutz on another RBI hit by Black, this one a single. They also got two in the sixth off Paul Cianciolo, who retired the first two hitters but then gave up three straight singles to Lilly, Overmyer and Haveman, the latter of which was a two-run single. Scott Kelley and Calvin Grumley threw the final two innings without allowing any more runs.
Penn State was able to score singles runs in the eighth and ninth innings off reliever Drew Wurdack. Ernst doubled home Nakata with two outs in the eighth while Picconi singled in Marlin, who had doubled to lead off the ninth.
Notes: Today's game marked the first-ever matchup between Penn State and Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament....Yodice now ranks fifth on the Penn State single season RBI list with 54 and trails Chris Wright (2001) by just two RBI....Ernst now has 77 hits on the year, tying him with Lance Thompson (2006) for fourth place on the single season hit list at Penn State. He is just one hit behind Matt Cavagnaro's 78 from last year.