May 9, 2009
IOWA CITY - Cory Wine hit a home run to induce extra innings and produced a game-winning double in the 11th inning to put the Penn State baseball team over Iowa, 5-4, to ensure a Big Ten series victory. With two wins this weekend, along with losses by Purdue and Michigan, Penn State stands tied for seventh in the conference and a game out of Big Ten Tournament contention with four to go.
Wine (Stillwater, Okla.) had three of Penn State's 12 hits and reached base on four occasions.
The Nittany Lions rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the sixth inning to take their seventh conference game of the season.
Down 4-3 in the eighth, Wine led off with a towering shot over the rightfield fence to tie the game at four apiece.
Three innings later, Jordan Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa.) sent a one-out single to center and advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw. After Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.) walked to make it a double-play situation, Wine raked a two-bagger to rightfield to score Steranka.
Wine and Steranka each tallied three hits on the game. Wine totaled the last two RBIs of the game and had two stolen bases, while Steranka touched home twice.
Deese, playing in his second game after being sidelined nine games due to injury, hit his second home run in as many games and drew two walks.
Jesse Alfreno (Grove City, Pa.) picked up his first collegiate victory, outing his only batter faced. The Nittany Lion bullpen, highlighted by David Lutz's (West Chester, Pa.) one-hit performance over three strong, allowed just four hits and one run over six innings of work. Ryan Ignas (North Wales, Pa.) picked up his fifth save of the season in a scoreless 11th.
Ryan Boonie (State College, Pa.) collected two hits for the second day in a row in the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
In a no-decision start, Mike Lorentson (Springfield, Pa.) went five innings and gave up three earned runs while punching out seven.
After Iowa jumped to a three-run lead to start the game with a walk-plagued third inning and one of Wes Freie's two lead-off home runs, the Nittany Lions cut the deficit to one in a two-run sixth. Steranka singled to the right side and was aided home by a crushing home run to centerfield by Deese.
With Freie's second blast off of Paul Cianciolo (Charleston, S.C.), the Hawkeyes took a 4-2 lead into the final three innings of the game. Penn State's bullpen rose to the call, sitting down nine of the next 10 batters to come to the plate.
The Nittany Lions came across their third run of the game in a mistake-filled seventh. Blake Lynd (Deer Park, Texas) reached on an errant throw and later scored on a passed ball by the catcher Dallas Burke.
Ignas stranded a runner in the 11th to notch a tally in the victory column for the Nittany Lions. Lead-off pinch hitter T.J. Cataldo singled to start the frame but, following a sacrifice bunt to move the runner into scoring position, Ignas issued a pop fly to center and a grounder to shortstop Louie Picconi to close out the game.
Penn State and Iowa look to provide another thrilling game on Sunday when they meet at 2 p.m. Eastern Time in Iowa City.