May 3, 2009
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Penn State baseball team fell to Michigan State, 6-5, as the Spartans swept the Nittany Lions with a three-run seventh for a come-from-behind win.
The Nittany Lions held a 4-3 advantage for much of the game and had the tying run on second with no outs in the eighth inning.
Louie Picconi (North Merrick, N.Y.) had two hits, a run and an RBI. Ryan Boonie (State College, Pa.) blasted his second career home run and first of the season with an opposite-field solo shot.
Scott Kelley (Arlington Heights, Ill.) received a no-decision and was in command in his first Big Ten start. Kelley went six strong, allowing three earned runs while striking out three.
Michigan State out-hit the Nittany Lions, 12-7. Penn State dropped its eighth straight Big Ten game with the loss.
Cory Wine (Stillwater, Okla.) ended a five-game slump with a triple, a run scored and an RBI.
Penn State jumped to an early lead in the first inning. Boonie took an outside fastball and sailed the ball over the fence and into the trees for a solo shot.
Two innings later, the Nittany Lions sported two runs to make it a three-run lead. Picconi reached scoring position when he grounded to third and advanced on an errant throw from third baseman AJ Schindler's knees.
Michigan State chipped away at the Nittany Lion lead over the course of the third and fourth innings. In the third, Eli Boike blazed a liner over the head of Jordan Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa.) for a run-scoring double. During the Spartans' next trip to the plate, Michigan State posted four consecutive singles to make it a one-run game, highlighted by a Bo Felt groundball up the middle that caught the lip of the infield and bounced over shortstop Picconi's shoulder. Only one run was scored on the play as centerfielder Grant Youngblood (Mariette, Ga.) tossed out Felt before he could advance to second.
Youngblood engineered a run during the Lions' turn in the fourth, starting the action with a Texas League single to his counterpart in center. A Rick Marlin (Orlando, Fla.) sacrifice bunt allowed Picconi to float a run-scoring single down the right-field line to tally the Lions' fourth run of the game.
In the fifth, Youngblood showed that he is a double threat with a brilliant diving catch while on the run in left-center.
With runners on first and second and two outs on the board, AJ Dunn came into replace starter Tony Bucciferro against the slugging Steranka in the top of the seventh. Dunn and Steranka battled for 11 pitches with the freshman third baseman fouling off six before grounding out to second to end the threat.
Another battle between the three spot and a relief pitcher ensued in the bottom half when Ryan Ignas (North Wales, Pa.), in relief for Kelley, got a quick 0-2 count on Chris Roberts with runners on first and second. Roberts fouled off four strikes before stabbed a liner up the middle of the field to tie the game at four apiece. The next batter Eric Roof hit a stand-up double to give the Spartans a 6-4 lead with two left.
Penn State trimmed the deficit to one run in the eighth. Wine drew a walk with a 3-2 count to reach. After a single by Ben Heath (Huntersville, N.C.) put two on with no outs, a wild pitch advanced both runners to scoring position. However, the Nittany Lions would only produce one run as Dunn struck out Youngblood, who nearly gave the Nittany Lions a lead with a bomb that was inches foul of being a three-run home run, and forced a run-scoring fielder's choice and a foul out.
Penn State returns to action next week when it tries to rebound against Iowa in Iowa City on Friday.