May 2, 2009
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Penn State baseball team was held to one run for the second consecutive day as Michigan State clipped the Nittany Lions, 9-1, on Saturday at McLane Stadium in East Lansing, Mich.
Michigan State jumped out to a six-run lead through seven innings before the Nittany Lions scored their lone run.
Rick Marlin (Orlando, Fla.) reached base in all four at-bats, earning two walks and two hits.
Catcher Ben Heath (Huntersville, N.C.) had an outstanding day for the blue-and-white - both in the field and at the plate. Heath had two hits, an RBI and gunned down three Spartan runners trying to steal second base.
The Spartans out-hit the Nittany Lions by a margin of 14-9. Both teams left a plethora of runners on base with the Spartans leading the charge, 12-9.
Paul Cianciolo (Charleston, S.C.) pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief and allowed just one earned run.
The loss is the seventh in a row in conference play for the Nittany Lions.
AJ Achter pitched eight innings and did not allow an earned run while throwing five strikeouts on 128 pitches. Kurt Wunderlich finished off the game for Michigan State.
Freshman first baseman Joey DeBernardis (Lake Zurich, Ill.) gathered a hit in his first Big Ten start.
Jordan Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa.) keyed the only run scored for Penn State. Steranka, who reached on an error in the eighth to tally the run, also had the only extra-base knock of the game.
Mike Lorentson (Springfield, Pa.) took the loss for the Nittany Lions. Lorentson let up two earned runs in 2 1/23 innings. The senior southpaw guided his way through two potential big Michigan State stanzas. Despite giving up a walk and a hits-batsman to start the game, Lorentson calmed down, forcing a fielder's choice and a strikeout. He received help from his fellow batterymate, Heath, who threw out Chris Roberts at second. In the second inning, he left two runners on base after giving up an unearned run.
Penn State flashed its glove work in the outfield with several key plays made by each of its three outfielders. In the second, Ryan Boonie (State College, Pa.) made a warning-track catch in left field while running into the chain-link fence. Marlin hurled two strong throws on bases-loaded sacrifice flies to leave runners at first and second. In the eighth, centerfielder Grant Youngblood (Marietta, Ga.) sprinted and made a diving catch with his back turned on the Minute Maid Park-like hill in deep right-center.
The Nittany Lions scored its only run in the eighth inning. Steranka reached on a fielding error by Spartan rightfielder Eli Boike. Heath brought the run home with an opposite-field single to right field.
Penn State and Michigan State return to action on Sunday at 1 p.m. in East Lansing, Mich.