March 25, 2009
AMBLER, Pa. - The Penn State baseball team won its sixth consecutive game on Wednesday as the Nittany Lions used a six-run fourth inning to defeat Temple, 7-4, in Ambler, Pa.
Paul Cianciolo (Charleston, S.C.) won his first career game as he pitched six innings of work, dishing out two earned runs and eight hits.
Blake Lynd (Deer Park, Texas) and Landon Nakata (Honolulu, Hawai'i) each supplied two hits, and Jordan Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Grant Youngblood (Marietta, Ga.) manufactured two RBIs apiece. Nakata reached base four times, earned two walks along with his pair of singles.
Penn State piled on six runs in the third inning with four singles and a triple. The Nittany Lions loaded the bases with line-drive hits from Lynd and Nakata, as well as a walk to Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.). Cory Wine (Stillwater, Okla.) walked to tally the first run of the frame, and Steranka found open real estate in right-center field bring home Nakata and Deese. Youngblood cleared the bases with a triple down the rightfield line that caromed into the corner. Louie Picconi (North Merrick, N.Y.) supplied the Nittany Lions with their seventh run of the game, singling to the rightside of the infield.
With two runners on base and no outs, Ryan Ignas (North Wales, Pa.) came into relief in the ninth to earn his first career save. Ignas forced two groundballs to Steranka at third base, including a double play ball that Wine dug out of the dirt.
Temple out-hit Penn State, 11-10, despite a four-inning stretch in which the Owls did not muster any runners.
Mike Franklin (Harleysville, Pa.), in his second appearance of the year, retired the side in the seventh inning.
Lynd initiated the scoring in the top of the first when he legged out a slow dribbler up the middle, improving his hitting streak to 13 games. Following a similarly hit ball by Nakata and a swipe by Lynd, Deese popped a sacrifice fly to right field to put the Nittany Lions ahead.
Temple quickly tied the game at one in its first at-bats. Jamie Abercrombie walked and knotted the Owls' first run via a Texas Leaguer by Sean Barksdale.
The Owls took the lead in the second on several peculiar plays. With two outs, Khan hit a two-bagger over the head of leftfielder Youngblood. Abercrombie grounded a ball to shortstop Michael Glantz (Marietta, Ga.), which hit the second base umpire in the back of the knee, allowing the Owls to score on a Carmen Del Mastro poke to opposite field. Steranka ended the threat on an unassisted putout, barely beating the runner at third.
Cianciolo settled down after letting up six hits through the first two innings. The senior from Charleston, S.C. retired the last nine batters he faced.
David Lutz (West Chester, Pa.) got out of trouble in the eighth and kept the Owls three runs behind going into the final frame. After Temple shortened its deficit to 7-4, Lutz forced a 4-6-3 double play with help from a fine defensive stop by Nakata.
Penn State returns home to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park this weekend as it faces No. 28 Ohio State in the first Big Ten series of the season. First pitch takes place on Friday at 6:35 p.m.