On consecutive days, fans flocking to State College for Blue-White weekend packed Medlar Field at Lubrano Park with top-10 attendance records.
But while Nittany Lion fans posted new top-crowd numbers, the Lions' baseball squad broke a near-four-year streak as Penn State was swept by a Big Ten opponent for the first time since a 2005 series against Ohio State.
The Lions fell to the Illinois Fighting Illini in the final game of the series Sunday afternoon at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, 9-2. The loss was the fifth straight for Penn State -- the longest losing streak of the season for the team.
"It's a tough team to go against right now," head coach Robbie Wine said of the Fighting Illini, while adding the matchup wasn't favorable for Penn State as Illinois had won four of the last five while the Lions were in a slump.
"What's crazy about baseball, when a team is on a roll, which they are, they get all the breaks, the calls, the pitches -- it just seems like that. I'm impressed with that Illinois team," Wine said.
Paul Cianciolo made his fourth start of the season and first start against a Big Ten opponent Sunday. The graduate student struggled on the mound as he allowed eight earned runs, 10 hits, two walks and fanned two batters through 6.1 innings pitched.
For Illinois, the first three hits of the game were all triples. In the second inning, Illini first baseman Matt Dittman belted a line drive into the deepest part of center field and pulled into third base with a three-bagger. Right fielder Pete Cappetta smacked another ball to the wall in left field for the second straight triple in the very next at bat.
"I definitely tip my hat to Illinois, they played a good series of baseball. Any mistake you made, they capitalized on it," Cianciolo said as he spoke slowly and quietly after the loss.
"We didn't execute as well as we should have and that starts on the mound with me today."
Sunday afternoon's party at the plate for Illinois was a continuation of what the Illini had started in the first two games of the series. On Friday, Illinois lit up the Penn State hurlers with four extra-base hits, and on Saturday the orange-and-blue squad tallied five extra-base hits, including two homers.
While the Illini silenced the record crowds in attendance with the constant pinging of their bats -- Illinois batters racked up 17 hits Saturday and 14 hits Sunday -- Lion batters were hot and cold at the plate all weekend and gave the fans little to cheer about.
Through six innings Sunday afternoon, the Lions' offense managed to muster just three hits and one run.
"Guys were trying to do too much at the plate instead of taking it a pitch at a time," designated hitter Wes Borden said.
Borden added the Lion batters faced a lot of pressure at the plate once the team fell behind.
Wine added having family and friends packing the stands for the Blue-White weekend series may have added extra pressure, but he reminded them to stay focused.
Both the catcher and pitcher noted how much losing in front of huge crowds hurt.
"There's more of a reward if you do well, there's more cheers," Borden. "But then again it hurts worse to lose in front of a big crowd so I think there's definitely more at stake when there's people in the stands."
