April 15, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Blake Lynd stole four bases to lift the Penn State baseball team over Mount St. Mary's, 8-3, at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The duo of Paul Cianciolo and Drew Palen did not allow a hit during the last six innings of the game, retiring 18 of the last 20 hitters.
Lynd (Deer Park, Texas) and Jordan Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa.) recorded three hits. Lynd reached base during all five plate appearances and was a pest for Mountaineer (13-15 overall) pitchers, scoring four times.
Steranka had a team-high three RBIs and extended his hitting streak to 17 games, which is the sixth longest in the 133-year history of the program. The freshman third baseman raised his batting average to .405.
Cianciolo (Charleston, S.C.) needed only 44 pitches in four innings to tally his fourth victory of the season. Aside from an error in the fourth, the graduate student righthander did not allow a runner as he struck out four and walked none.
Pitching for the first time in over three weeks, Drew Palen (Scottsdale, Ariz.) provided his best performance of the season. He struck out four in two innings to end the game.
The Penn State (20-14) pitching staff yielded five hits, the lowest total since the New York Tech series. The Nittany Nine pounded 11 hits for its 20th win of the year - the 16th straight time the program has reached 20 wins.
Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.) doubled in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning on a ball that puzzled the Mount infield and dropped when first baseman Josh Winter tripped over the pitcher's mound. Deese finished the night with two RBIs.
Ten Mountaineers were struck out by the Penn State pitching staff. Scott Kelley (Arlington Heights, Ill.) whiffed two, while Cianciolo and Palen sat down four each.
Steranka doubled home two runs to give the team an early two-run lead. Deese sacrificed the third run of the game in the third, airing a ball to left field to score the speedy Lynd, who bunted for a single to start the inning.
Mount St. Mary's evened the game in the fourth inning, ending Kelley's productive start to the game. Matt Staso and Kyle Kane had back-to-back singles, and a stalemate was served when Shane Eyler drilled a pitch over the right-center wall. A call to Cianciolo stalled the Mount rally as he retired three of the next four.
Bobby Jacobs (West Chester, Pa.) tripled for the first time in his career to clear the bases in the sixth.
Penn State travels to Indiana this weekend to take on a red-hot Hoosiers team that sits tied atop the Big Ten standings and has won nine of their past 11 contests.
GAME NOTES: Jordan Steranka raised his hitting streak to 17 games. Blake Lynd reached a double-digit hitting streak for the second time this season. Lynd previously had a 14-game roll during the Florida trip...Penn State turned a double play against the Mount. Coming in to this week, the Nittany Lions led the nation in fielded double plays per game.