May 27, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Senior Rob Yodice was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team for the recently concluded Big Ten Tournament that was held last week. Yodice knocked in multiple runs in all three of Penn State's games at the Big Ten Tournament last week and ended the year with five straight multiple-RBI games. The native of Staten Island, N.Y. gives Penn State an All-Tournament honoree from the Big Ten Tournament for the second straight year after Matt Cavagnaro was named to the All-Tournament team last year.
In the first game of the tournament against Indiana, Yodice went 1-for-4 with two RBI and a walk. Both of his RBI came in the four-run fifth inning that gave the Nittany Lions a commanding 5-0 lead in a game they would go on to win 6-1. The next day, against Purdue, he hit his ninth home run of the year, a three-run shot in the third inning, and also scored a pair of runs. Then, in the final game against Indiana, he had an RBI double in the four-run ninth inning that gave Penn State an 8-7 lead before Indiana scored four in the bottom of the inning to win the game.
Yodice ended the season with nine home runs and 56 RBI, the highest totals in either category for a Penn State player under head coach Robbie Wine. His nine round-trippers were the most since Matt Harter's nine in 2004 while his 56 RBI rank him in a tie for fourth place on the Penn State single season RBI list.