April 17, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Penn State baseball team travels to Bloomington, Ind. this weekend to take on a red-hot Hoosiers team that has won nine of its past 11 games. The Nittany Lions, which defeated Mount St. Mary's during their only midweek game, comes into the weekend at a 20-14 overall mark and is sixth in the Big Ten at 4-5. Indiana, despite its 16-17 overall record, has rebounded from a troubling first half and sees itself tied with Minnesota for first place.
The first pitch for Friday's game at Sembower Field is set for a 3 p.m. start. Saturday and Sunday's match will take place at 1 p.m.
Fans can follow the game via GameTracker at GoPSUsports.com. Loren Crispell, the voice of Penn State baseball, will be broadcasting the game on the official Penn State athletics Web site or on ESPN Radio 1450 AM in the State College area. Game updates will also be made available on twitter.com/psubaseball.
Pitching Matchups
Currently, only Friday's pitching matchup is known. T.J. Macy (2-2, 3.20 ERA, 50.2 IP, 63 Ks) takes the hill against Blake Monar (4-2, 4.18 ERA, 47.1 IP, 42 Ks).
Series History with the Hoosiers
Penn State looks to seek retribution against an Indiana team that knocked it out of the the 2008 Big Ten Tournament in heart-breaking fashion. Penn State rallied back from a 7-4 deficit entering the top of the ninth inning by scoring four runs in the inning to take an 8-7 lead on Cory Wine's two-out, two-run double and a subsequent error that allowed Wine to score the go-ahead run. However, in the bottom of the ninth, Indiana loaded the bases with one out and then Tyler Cox, who had committed the error in the top half of the inning, ended the game with a game-winning grand slam to left center to give the Hoosiers an 11-8 win. Prior to that, the Nittany Lions defeated Indiana five times in 2008 - once during the Big Ten Tournament and all four games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Taking four of five bumped the now 17-year series total to a 34-25 advantage for the Nittany Lions.
Scouting the Hoosiers
Indiana came into this season highly touted by the college baseball media. Baseball America predicted the Hoosiers as the top team in the Big Ten.
The Hoosiers bats answered the pre-season call with a resounding batting average of .330. Nine of the ten players with at least 45 at-bats are hitting above .300. Freshman Alex Dickerson leads the team with a .388 clip and 10 home runs and is rivaling Jordan Steranka for Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Catcher Josh Phegley, who finds himself projected as a modest first round draft pick, comes in at .376 with nine home runs, 40 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .489. Jerrud Sabourin, a former Freshman All-American last year, is swinging at .358 with eight doubles but only 17 RBIs.
Indiana's pitching ran into troubles in the early part of the season but has picked up in due time to ink the Hoosiers in at first in the conference. On March 16, Indiana gave up 27 runs to a Northern Iowa program that will be dormant come season's end. Overall, Indiana pitchers are throwing a 5.83 ERA and opponents are batting .301. Blake Monar, a freshman, will pitch on Friday and has a 4-2 record with a 4.18 ERA. Eric Arnett has four complete games in eight starts with a 7-1 record and a 2.00 ERA. Matt Bashore, Indiana's No. 1 starter coming into the season, should make a start this weekend. Bashore is 2-3 with a 5.32 ERA.