Feb. 27, 2009
AUSTIN, Texas - A seven-run inning lifted No. 4 Texas past Penn State in a 9-2 victory for the Longhorns in the first game of a four-game set in Austin, Texas. After Penn State tied the game in the fourth inning a one apiece, the Longhorns (6-0) scattered a single, double, triple and a homerun in the bottom frame to put the game quickly out of reach.
Jordan Steranka, Cory Wine and Michael Glantz each had two hits for the Nittany Lions (2-2).
Steranka has two hits in each of the three games he has played as a Penn Stater. The freshman third baseman from Pittsburgh, Pa. had a career-first multi-RBI game.
Mike Lorentson (0-2) took the loss for the Nittany Lions. Lorentson pitched 3 2/3 innings and allowed three earned runs off six hits.
Texas ace Chase Ruffin shut down the Nittany Lion offense. Ruffin, who threw an inning and a third on Tuesday against Texas-Arlington, allowed two runs in six innings pitched. He struck out nine batters and allowed a walk.
Grant Youngblood, Landon Nakata and Wes Borden also had one hit apiece for Penn State.
Texas put runs on the board early in the bottom of the first inning. After a one-out walk to Brandon Loy and a pop-fly to centerfield, Preston Clark brought the first runner of the game home with a single to right field.
Youngblood made a spectacular catch in the second inning with a two outs and a runner on third base. Connor Rowe slammed a ball that reached the warning track in deep center field at University Federal Credit Union Disch-Falk Field. Youngblood raced to catch to the ball just in time make an over-the-head catch with his back facing home plate.
Lorentson got into early trouble early in the third inning but escaped unscathed. After letting up a stand-up double, a walk and a hits-batsman, the senior left-handed pitched whiffed two Longhorn batters with bases loaded to keep the 1-0 deficit intact.
Glantz earned the first two hits of the game for the Nittany Lions to secure his second multi-hit game of the season. With two outs in the fourth inning, Glantz sparked the Penn State offense with a double down the right-field line. Steranka tied the game with a ground ball single up the middle to send Glantz home.
The stalemate was short-lived as Rowe belted a two-run homerun over the left-field wall. David Hernandez reached base when Lorentson's pitch jammed him inside. Rowe gave Texas a 3-1 lead with his first career homerun.
Two errors by Nakata opened the door for the Longhorns to score five more runs on a team cycle in the fourth inning. With a runner on third, Belt grounded out to the pitcher and Travis Tucker sneaked past catcher Ben Heath. Kevin Keyes' double down the third-base line scored another before Tim Maitland hit a bases-loaded triple just past the reach of a diving Youngblood to make it an 8-1 lead for the Longhorns.
Penn State added its second run of the game in the top of the sixth inning. Wine doubled to left, setting up Steranka's second run-scoring single to make it an 8-2 game.
Mike Pierce and Jesse Alfreno shut down the Longhorns in the bullpen. Alfreno allowed one hit in one inning of work.
Game Notes: Penn State became the first team to score more than one run off a Texas starting pitcher this season...Fans can watch the rest of the series from the live video link on GoPSUsports.com provided by Texas Sports-TV.