April 23, 2013
By Mike Esse, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State head coach Robbie Wine has said all year that sometimes a team needs a few breaks to get rolling and the Nittany Lions (10-25, 2-10 Big Ten) manufactured some breaks this weekend against Iowa (14-20, 2-9 Big Ten).
Penn State took two of three from the Hawkeyes, marking the team's first series win in the Big Ten in 2013, and will look to carry some momentum into the midweek schedule, as well.
After Friday's contest was rained out, the two teams played a doubleheader on Saturday and squared off in a single game on Sunday and took the two wins in interesting and intriguing fashion.
In both games, the Nittany Lions were behind with little to no momentum, but found a way to swing all of the momentum into their own dugout late in the game and put themselves in a position to win.
In game one on Saturday, Penn State erased a seven run deficit and J.C. Coban's walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning scored a pair of runs to complete the comeback.
It was gritty and motivational win in the first game of two on the day.
"The way we won the first game Saturday really was who we are," said Wine after Sunday's win. "We've had a lot of games where we came from behind a lot of runs and never finished it. That was the first game where we finished it and won [the game]."
After dropping game two, 5-2, on Saturday, Penn State started slow against Iowa on Sunday, as well. The Lions found themselves down, 2-0, heading into the bottom of the third inning.
Penn State then took some of the momentum with two runs in the inning to pull even. Then, in the bottom of the fifth, Wine decided to play small ball and it was the perfect time to do it.
Alex Farkes, James Coates and Steve Snyder laid down three consecutive bunts and reached safely on all three as the Hawkeyes defense couldn't execute on any of the three bunts.
Farkes' bunt, which he did on his own, gave Wine the idea to continue to lay bunts down and force Iowa to make plays.
"The at-bat before (Farkes') had an opportunity, we thought, for the bunt to move the runner, but [Farkes] remembered that and the next at-bat he [bunted] it on his own," said Wine. "He saw the opportunity there and he's a pretty good bunter and had confidence in it and got a hit out of it.
"The other ones were just sacrifices that worked out for us."
It was an odd series of events after Iowa bobbled the ball on Snyder's bunt, but those are the breaks Penn State needs to turn the season around. However, Penn State still needed to take advantage of the situation and they did.
Sophomore's Taylor Skerpon and Coban posted back-to-back two-RBI doubles and all of a sudden Penn State was leading 6-2.
"The way they came out today, fresh and rejuvenated, that's who we are," Wine said. "We feel good in that locker room right now."
Senior Cody Lewis' performance in game three that sealed the 7-4 victory was a perfect ending to an outstanding weekend from the Penn State bullpen, something that satisfies Lewis as a fifth year senior.
This is satisfaction for Lewis because of the play of his fellow pitchers, but also because of the contributing Nittany Lions in all facets of the game, and there have been many, as of late.
"It's so cool," said Lewis. "I'm a fifth year guy and to see a freshman step up or a sophomore step up is huge, especially [for the program] down the road for next season. Seeing those guys perform well now only raises their ceiling [in the future]."
With a number of guys contributing, true freshman to fifth year seniors, things are moving in the right direction for Penn State. Wine has found a lineup he is comfortable with and a bullpen he can rely on, which is an improvement from just a few weeks ago.
Now, after winning three of its last four, Penn State is starting to get on a mid-season run, something they did one year ago.
"It's where we are settling into a lineup, I like the way our lineup flows," said Wine. "We did it last year, where we got to a point where we said `okay let's do it' and we went on a pretty good streak."
Penn State will host LaSalle and Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, at 6:05 p.m. before heading to Columbus for a weekend series with Ohio State.
--NITTANY LIONS--