As Temple's sixth pitcher entered last night's game, eight innings into a three-hour-and-38-minute game, bags of new dirt were being splattered randomly into the infield to keep it playable -- not that the display on the field was conventional beforehand.
"I've played colder, I've played wilder, wetter," catcher Joe Blackburn said, "but this was a rare combination of all three of those."
When it was all tallied up -- the Owls got to pitcher No. 7 that same inning -- Temple surrendered 11 walks, while each team combined for nine errors. In front of about 75 fans, a generous estimate, most of whom sat in fold-up chairs under the concourse at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, balls were bouncing anywhere but into gloves.
After trailing all the way into the eighth, down by one, the Nittany Lions (9-17, 2-4 Big Ten) rallied for seven runs in that inning on their way to a 14-8 win against Temple (11-18, 4-5 Atlantic 10). Penn State outhit the Owls, 14-10, but both teams combined to leave 22 runners on base.
But in the eighth inning, the Lions started producing runs, as Blackburn tripled into the gap between left and centerfield, scoring outfielder Brian Ernst from second base to pull the Penn State ahead, 9-8.
Starting pitcher Ryan Stobart was pulled after two and one-third innings of work after getting shelled for four runs in the third inning, and the Lions had trailed throughout. Wine cited reliever Paul Hawkins's two strong innings of relief, starting in the fifth inning, for giving the defense and offense a chance to get itself back together.
"We are both out there in the same conditions, so there are no excuses," Penn State head coach Robbie Wine said, "but they are miserable. It's not fun to do it, but it's about guttin' it out."
In sub-40 degree temperatures, several aluminum bats cracked, and Temple first baseman Dan Brady snapped his bat near the handle in the fifth inning on a single. Missed throws and passed balls were common too as half of the runs scored last night were unearned.
"It was very sloppy," infielder Jim Leitgeb said. "Both sides. They were sloppy, we were sloppy. We were able to capitalize late on their errors, and that's important."
Before that downpour of runs, the Owls were unable to hold onto the victory by any means -- even numerous visits to the mound to stop play as a rainstorm neared.
Wine said both teams wanted to get the game in despite increasing precipitation.
This was the second longest game for Penn State this season, which endured a four-plus hour game on March 16 against Oral Roberts. The Lions lost that 11 inning affair, 11-8.
