May 8, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Penn State will close out its second season at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park this weekend as they host the Iowa Hawkeyes for the first time at the stadium. Game times for the weekend are 6:35 p.m. on Friday, 2:05 p.m. on Saturday and a 12:05 p.m. start on Sunday. The Hawkeyes will be the second-to-last Big Ten team to visit Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, as after this weekend, Illinois will be the only Big Ten school that is yet to visit Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
The Nittany Lions will be looking to break a streak of three, that is three straight years that the Hawkeyes have defeated the Nittany Lions in a series. The Hawkeyes took three out of four in both 2005 and 2006 while the Hawkeyes took two out of three in a weather-shortened series last year in Iowa City. Penn State evened last year's season series at two games apiece with a win over Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament, knocking the Hawkeyes out of the tournament. The Nittany Lions will also be looking for their first series win over Iowa since 2000 and their first series win at home since 1999. Both dry spells are the second-longest against any Big Ten team. The only Big Ten squad that the Nittany Lions have gone longer without a series win against is next weekend's opponent, Minnesota, whom they have not taken a series from since 1997, which was at home.
In addition to it being the last home series of the year for Penn State, this series, just like last weekend's, may prove to be very important in the Big Ten standings. Penn State enters this weekend tied with Northwestern for fifth place at 11-13 in the Big Ten, just half a game behind fourth place Ohio State and also only a half-game ahead of seventh place Michigan State. Indiana sits 1.5 games behind the Spartans while both Iowa and Minnesota are at 8-16, a game behind Indiana and three games behind Penn State and Northwestern. The top six teams qualify for the Big Ten Tournament.
The weekend's series will also mark the final home games for seven Penn State seniors: Joe Blackburn, Brian Ernst, Paul Hawkins, Drew O'Neil, Ryan Stobart, Seth Whitehill and Rob Yodice.