May 16, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State baseball team defeated No. 21 Minnesota, 10-8, on Saturday to deter the Golden Gophers from claiming the Big Ten regular season title in their final game of the 2009 season. The Nittany Lions scored five consecutive runs, and their bullpen held Minnesota scoreless through the last six innings to protect Penn State as it rallied from three down amid two rain delays.
The Golden Gophers fall to the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, and Ohio State notches the Big Ten championship.
Ben Heath (Huntersville, N.C.) and Bobby Jacobs (West Chester, Pa.) each had three RBIs. Jacobs went 3-for-4 and posted the game-winning hit in the bottom of the sixth.
Ryan Ignas (North Wales, Pa.) picked up the win, going 2 1-3 innings while scattering just one hit. With his fifth victory of the season, Ignas led the team in both the save and win columns. David Lutz (West Chester, Pa.) earned his third save as he struck out three in 2 2-3 innings of work.
Eight of the nine starters for Penn State recorded a safe, and the Nittany Lions edged the Golden Gophers, 12-11, in hits.
In his last game as a Nittany Lion, Cory Wine (Stillwater, Okla.) batted 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Wine leaves Penn State as the leader in three statistical categories -- putouts, sacrifice flies and at-bats.
Harsh rains and winds caused two rain delays that spanned a total of 1:50. Penn State players, staff teamed with several Minnesota players to assist in tarping the field amidst torrid weather in the first inning.
After a 45-minute rain delay, Penn State poured on three runs on two doubles. Wes Borden (Charlotte, N.C.) started off his final game with a two-bagger down the right-field line. Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.) drove home the first run with a single to centerfield and stole second to allow Wine to double him home to left field. With his stolen base, Deese finished his career 17-for-18 on the base paths.
Minnesota quickly dropped four runs in the top of the second to take a 4-3 lead. Heath doubled Rick Marlin (Orlando, Fla.) to tie the game before Jacobs pulled a pitch to left to retake the lead.
Penn State starting pitcher Scott Kelley (Arlington Heights, Ill.) got into trouble in the fourth on a misjudged pop fly that landed in shallow left field. The Golden Gophers tapped four consecutive singles to the left-side hole in the infield to etch four more runs on the scoreboard, which gave Minnesota an 8-5 lead going into an hour-and-fifteen minute rain delay.
The Nittany Lions came out of the rain delay and cut the deficit to two runs with single to center by Wine.
In the sixth, Penn State produced three runs to retake the lead. Following two hit-batsmen, Heath found a hole in the right-side of the infield to score one. Jacobs blasted a ball off the left-center wall for a bases-clearing double, giving Penn State a one-run lead.
Ryan Boonie (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.) made a potential game-saving catch in the sixth when he lay out to make a two-out diving catch with a runner on the move.
Heath added an insurance run in the seventh with a sacrifice fly.
Lutz issued an inning-ending double play in the eighth and a strikeout with the tying run at the plate to close the game.
Calvin Grumley (Johnsonburg, Pa.) struck out two in an inning pitched.
Ten Penn State seniors were honored before today's game for their achievements both on and off the field. Boonie went 1-for-3 in his final game as a Nittany Lions. Rick Marlin (Orlando, Fla.) scored two runs.
The Big Ten Tournament will begin this week at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio.