April 17, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - After Indiana rallied back from a 7-1 deficit to tie the game, Wes Borden dished out a game-winning single in the eighth inning and Ryan Ignas stranded five runners while going two strong as the Penn State baseball team defeated first-place Indiana, 9-7, on Friday in Bloomington, Ind.
Mike Deese (Roswell, Ga.) decked two home runs and posted a career-high five RBIs. Deese connected for three hits and raised his batting average to .322.
T.J. Macy (Boise, Idaho) secured a victory for the first time since March 13 against Rutgers. Macy struck out nine in seven innings while letting up seven hits and four earned runs. The Boise, Idaho righthander moves to 3-2 on the season with his 121-pitch performance.
The Nittany Lions remained composed in the eighth, despite the Hoosiers six-run comeback. Deese led off with a lead-off poke to short. Jordan Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa.) raised his hitting streak to 18 games with a double into the left-center gap. Following a pitching change to Chris Squires, Borden (Charlotte, N.C.) laced a ball up the middle to score the go-ahead run. Rick Marlin (Orlando, Fla.) hit into a fielder's choice and legged out the potential double play to bring home an insurance run.
After getting the first two outs in the ninth, Ignas earned his fourth save of the year by leaving the bases loaded. Ignas fooled Jake Dunner with a high fastball to sit down the Hoosiers.
Landon Nakata (Honolulu, Hawai'i) had three hits, two runs and an RBI.
For the Hoosiers, each spot in the middle of the lineup - Jerrud Sabourin, Josh Phegley and Alex Dickerson - had two hits.
Penn State out-hit the Hoosiers by a 12-10 margin. Indiana came into the series with nine wins in its past 11 games.
Indiana starter Blake Monar gave up seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. Only three strikeouts were recorded by the Hoosier pitching staff.
Penn State jumped out to a two-run lead in the top of the first off of freshman starter Monar. Nakata smoked a double to opposite field and was scored on a Deese fly that sailed over the crimson Indiana flag in left field.
Macy escaped damage during Indiana's part of the first. With Indiana's top hitters on first and second with one out, Macy keyed a pop-up to shortstop and a swinging strikeout.
Indiana delivered its first run of the game in the fourth when Alex Dickerson jacked a lead-off solo shot to right. Macy recovered by retiring the next three batters.
The Nittany Lions propelled to a 7-1 lead with five runs in the fifth inning. Louie Picconi (North Merrick, N.Y.) dropped a ball into the shallow left field to score Marlin. Blake Lynd then placed a bunt that settled on the chalk to single for the 11th straight game. After Nakata registered his third straight hit, Deese smashed his second home run - his third of the season - over the 370-foot sign in left-center.
Fielding miscues plagued Robbie Wine's squad in the bottom of the fifth, and Indiana poured on three unearned runs. Three errors to three straight batters and a pop fly that Marlin lost in the sun allowed the Hoosiers to cut the deficit to three runs. Macy forced a groundball double play - one of two for the nation's leading team in the category - to end the threat.
Indiana reliever Matt Carr put the stops of the Nittany Lion scoring barrage, tallying seven straight outs to allow the Hoosiers to come back to tie the game at seven apiece. The Hoosiers' two-three punch of Sabourin and Phegley provided the game-tying runs, but Macy remained cool under pressure again, sitting down two with Phegley, the go-ahead run, waiting on base.
Ignas relieved Macy and stranded five Indiana runners in the eighth and ninth, including two straight outs with a man at second in the penultimate frame.
The two teams play the second game of the series on Saturday at 1 p.m.