April 24, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State baseball's Steven Hill (Colleyville, Texas) has been named Co-National Pitcher of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) after throwing a no-hitter on Saturday, the NCBWA announced on Tuesday. This is Penn State baseball's first National Player of the Week award ever.
Hill threw a no-hitter in a 2-0 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday afternoon. Hill is the first Penn State pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Nate Bump did against Duquesne in 1995. Hill is the first Nittany Lion pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter in a Big Ten game.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and a 1-1 count, Hill forced Jacob Yacinich to ground out to junior shortstop Elliot Searer (Lewistown, Pa.). Searer made one of many fantastic plays at short on the day by firing a ball to senior Jordan Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa.) at first to end the game and make Penn State baseball history.
Hill had some stellar defensive play behind him. Most notably, with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Mike McQuillan hit a scorching ball to left field. Senior Sean Deegan (Readington, N.J.) made a great read on the ball and ran back to make a fantastic catch. Additionally, in the seventh inning with two outs, Ryan Rumph ripped a ground ball down the first base line. Steranka made a great play on the line and flipped the ball to Hill to end the inning and keep the no-hitter alive.
Hill stuck out three batters on the day and allowed a total of just two base runners. The junior threw 105 total pitches, 69 of them for strikes. Hill picked up his fourth consecutive victory and pitched his second complete game of the season.
The last Big Ten pitcher to throw a no-hitter was Alex Wimmers of Ohio State in 2009.
Penn State is back in action this Tuesday and Wednesday. Penn State will take on Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday and Kent State on Wednesday, with both games starting at 6:05 at Medlar Field.. Senior Mike Franklin (Harleysville, Pa.) will start on Tuesday, coming off a complete game shutout against Bucknell last week.
Individual game tickets for Adult General Admission start at just $4 and just $2 for youth. Student tickets cost $2 as well. Single game tickets can be purchased at the Spikes' box office or via a link on the tickets page on GoPSUSports.com.
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