MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (May 23, 2003) - David Roach's RBI double to deep left-center field in the bottom of the ninth thrwarted No. 4 Penn State's upset bid as Minnesota defeated the Nittany Lions 4-3 Friday at the Big Ten Tournament.
Penn State (27-27, 18-16) drops into the loser's bracket and will face No. 6 Indiana in an elimination game beginning at 4:35 p.m. The Hoosiers, who are 34-21, 16-15, were beaten by Michigan in the first-round 7-2, but they eliminated Northwestern with an 8-1 victory Thursday at Siebert Field. The Nittany Lions gave starter Sean Stidfole (Duncannon, Pa.) a lead to work with on a two-run blast by junior Matt Harter (Centre Hall, Pa.) in the first inning. Senior Zack Smithlin (Fair Lawn, N.J.) singled with one out and Harter deposited his sixth home run of the season over the left field fence for a quick 2-0 lead. Stidfole went out to the mound and retired the Golden Gophers in order in the first, but not without a little excitement. Sam Steidl hit his first pitch to deep leftfield, but senior Wes Reohr (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) made a diving catch over his shoulder on the warning track. Stidfole then worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning. After striking out Scott Welch and Andy Hunter to start the inning. David Roach got Minnesota's first hit of the game, David Hrncirik walked and Jake Elder was hit by a pitch to load the bases. But Stidfole got Tony Leseman to line out to shortstop Willie Melendez (Cayey, P.R.) to keep the Golden Gophers scoreless. Minnesota starter Glen Perkins breezed into the third inning after giving up the two-run homer, but Harter came to the plate with two outs and turned on another pitch and put it over the left-centerfield fence to give Penn State a 3-0 lead. Stidfole retired the first two batters in the third inning again, but he ran into trouble and the Golden Gophers made him pay this time. Luke Appert was hit by a pitch and Scott Welch walked. Andy Hunter plated Appert with a linedrive single to rightfield to make it 3-1. A fielding error by Melendez cost the Nittany Lions two runs in the fourth inning. Hrncirik led off with a single and Elder reached on Melendez's error. Both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Tony Leseman. Steidl then hit a flyball to centerfield that scored Hrncirik and Ben Pattee tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI single to rightfield. Stidfole settled down and remained in the game until the eighth inning when junior Aaron Tressler (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.) relieved him. Stidfole gave up three runs (two unearned) on seven hits. He also struck out five, but he walked four and hit two batters. Tressler dropped to 2-5 on the season. Perkins, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, gave up three runs on eight hits, walked just one and struck out 11 in a complete game to improve to 10-1 on the season. Minnesota (38-18, 25-6) will play No. 2 Ohio State Saturday at a time to be determined later today. Quotes from head coach Joe Hindelang's post-game press conference: Talk about putting freshman Sean Stidfole on the mound against Minnesota: Matt Harter tried to win it by himself: Perkins got stronger as game went on:
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