Happy Valley Hardball with a sabermetrics twist

I’ve just witnessed two of the more dramatic finishes that I’ve ever seen in a college ball and they happened in both ends of PSU’s doubleheader against Iowa today.

The Lions had a comfortable 6-0 lead in the first game but Iowa fought their way back. PSU wound up bringing in their All-American closer Drew O’Neil when the Hawkeyes managed to pull within one with the bases loaded in the sixth (both games today were seven inning affairs). O’Neil must have had a rubber arm because he threw 40 pitches in two innings of work last night and there’s no way that I thought he’d be available today. O’Neil got out of the sixth with the lead and came out to pitch the seventh. O’Neil retired the first two but then an Iowa batter managed a seeing eye single through the right side of the infield, then stole second and third, to put the tying run on third. O’Neil has not given up an earned run in two years of Big Ten play but he certainly look to be in danger of having that streak end – he couldn’t have had much left in that arm. Right then he uncorks a wild pitch. Fortunately, the ball ricocheted hard off the brick wall behind home. Catcher Joe Blackburn hustles back, barehands the ball and makes a perfect peg to O’Neil at the plate to nab the Iowa runner. Game over, PSU win, and O’Neil’s perfect streak continues.

In the second game, Iowa kept taking the lead but PSU kept fighting back. Entering the seventh and last inning, the Hawkeyes held a 9-6 three run lead. The first batter for PSU got on, then Cory Wine hit a booming two-run homer to draw PSU within one at 9-8. That made things very interesting. A bloop single, a walk, sacrifice bunt, and an intentional pass loaded the bases for the Nits. A hard hit single drove in the tying run but the runner on second got a late start and was held at third. That brought up senior star Joe Blackburn, who was DH’ing after catching the first game. Blackburn responded with a walk-off grand slam homer to win the game.

Two games, two dramatic finishes – one with the tying run thrown out at the plate on a wild pitch, the other a walk-off grand slam. You couldn’t ask for a more dramatic day – or bigger wins. PSU is in a dogfight in the big ten race. There are five teams fighting for four remaining spots in the Big Ten tournament (Michigan and Purdue are locks). Six teams qualify and, at the moment, PSU is in fourth place, a half game out of third, but only a 1 1/2 game lead over seventh.