Sluggers squeeze win, tie in dark

By CHAD WASHINGTON
Collegian Sports Writer

As darkness fell upon Beaver Field, a tired clan of Nittany Lion baseball players walked off the diamond happy with a win, but feeling a bit empty at the end.

Penn State (9-15-1) won the first game of their doubleheader against St. Bonaventure (8-11-1), 1-0, in exciting fashion. But the second game ended in a 7-7 tie after the game was called because of darkness.

In the seventh inning of the first game, a sacrifice squeeze play by freshman Kevin Billotte brought home pinch hitter Mike Rooney for the the game's only run.

Rooney started the inning with a walk against Bonnies' pitcher Brad Teemley. Then Lion sophomore John Dacostino was hit by a pitch, forcing the Bonnies to make a pitching change.

After St. Bonaventure replaced Teemley with Ryan Rademacker, Penn State second baseman Adam Beers sacrificed the runners into scoring position for Billotte to squeeze home the winning run.

"When a squeeze play is done right, there is no way to defend it," St. Bonaventure coach Larry Suddrook said.

For the Lions, starting pitcher Tom Billek continued to pitch well. In 6 2/3 innings, he gave up no runs on six hits. Billek got into a jam late in the seventh, when he gave up two singles and a walk after getting the first two Bonnies out.

Junior reliever Jeff Emerich came on and got the win by striking out the batter on three straight pitches. His record is now 2-1.

Even though the Lions pulled out the win, they only collected three hits in the game. This did not impress Penn State Coach Joe Hindelang.

"It was an non-conference game, and we were flat," Hindelang said. "There are some times where you have to have an enormous amount of intensity and energy, and we didn't."

In the second game, the Lions' bats awoke in a big way. Senior right fielder Jared Sadlowski hit a two-run home run to begin a three-run first inning. Sadlowski also scored a run and an RBI on a sacrifice fly to help Penn State build a 5-2 lead in the second inning.

The Lions then built a comfortable 7-4 lead at the end of the third.

The seven runs were all that the Lions would score, as St. Bonaventure stayed in the game. Then the Bonnies scored a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to tie the game at seven.

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the umpires called the game because of darkness.

Senior outfielder Derek Bochna ended the day going 4-for-5 with two doubles and two singles.

The Lions travel to East Lansing, Mich., to play Michigan State in afour-game series this weekend.