Aug 14 2008
Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
Jun 14 2008
Blackburn signs with Traverse City Beach Bums
Joe signs on with the independent Frontier League Traverse City (MI) Beach Bums. Blackburn will get a chance to showcase his skills and maybe sign a free agent contract with a major league program later.
Jun 08 2008
For the diehard baseball fan
It’s been over two weeks since Penn State’s season ended and the MLB draft seemed awfully disappointing with only one Nittany Lion drafted. The good news is that the start of the Spikes season is only a bit more than a week away. The even better news is that I’ve started a blog dedicated to following them this season. You can check it out at
Jun 05 2008
White Sox draft Drew O’Neil in the fourth round
He was the 120th pick overall. Good luck to Drew in his baseball future.
May 23 2008
Nittany Lion Baseball Team to Play on the Big Ten Network
UncleLar Take:
Indiana topped Illinois so the Lions will get to face the Hoosiers for the second time in the tournament. Indiana will be playing their second game of the day which certainly works to PSU’s advantage but the Hoosiers did get a complete game out of their starter so their pitching staff should be well rested.
May 17 2008
PSU backs into third seed
Purdue did the Lions a favor by knocking off Illinois 11-2 in the second game of their doubleheader today, thus handing the Lions the third seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
Play starts in Ann Arbor on Wednesday. #3 PSU will meet $6 Indiana and #5 Ohio State matches up with #4 Illinois. The teams are reseeded before Thursday’s game. #1 Michigan gets the lowest seeded opening round winner while #2 Purdue gets the other team.
That’s why it was so important that PSU nail down the third seed. Had they wound up fourth and had Illinois won their opening round game, then, with a first round win, PSU would be up against Michigan and their ace pitcher. The later in the tournament that PSU comes up against Michigan the better chance they have for a win.
May 10 2008
Nits hold off late Iowa rallies, win game one 6-5
UncleLar Take:
It’s not every day that you see a runner thrown out at the plate on a wild pitch. Much less for the last out. And even much less when it would be the tying run.
Drew O’Neil really stepped up today. He threw over 40 pitches in his two innings of work last night and there’s no way that I thought he’d be available today. Yet he comes in and get PSU out of a big jam in the sixth and then comes up with the dramatic save in the seventh for another two inning save. His arm must feel like rubber.
May 10 2008
Two dramatic wins
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.
May 10 2008
Iowa SID: Hawkeyes fall in extra innings
May 04 2008
MSU SID: PSU holds, edges Spartans 2-1
Apr 30 2008
Collegian: Baseball prepares for more midweek games next year
UncleLar Take:
Wine should consider playing a few weekend games in the fall. The games will count against the 56 game limit the team has but it might alleviate some of the pressure to fill up the schedule with midweek games. I’m not convinced that the schools around the Big Ten are going to be able to find enough quality midweek opponents during the regular season. Playing 2-4 games in the fall, perhaps booked around a football weekend, might alleviate some of the pressure to find a decent opponent and it might also draw large crowds.
Apr 11 2008
In The Pros
An alert reader has informed me that Gary Amato is now with the Hickory Crawdads along with Matt Cavaganaro. I’ve updated my post of a few days ago with this new information plus I’ve added a new page to the site called In The Pros where I’ll keep track of the current status of all the kids through the summer. That page can be reached at any time through the navigation bar at the top of the site.
Apr 06 2008
Penn Staters in the pros
Now that spring training is over and players are trucking off to their assigned teams, it’s the perfect time to track down which Penn Staters are still collecting a paycheck for playing this boy’s game.
David Aardsmaa -
Aardsmaa spent his freshman year at Penn State in the spring of 2001 before trotting off to Rice to finish up a highly successful collegiate career. Aardsmaa was with the Chicago White Sox last season but was traded to the Red Sox over the winter.
Sean Stidfole -
Sean Stidfole was a 2005 14th round draft choice of the Toronto Blue Jays. He is currently still in the Toronto organization pitching for the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the Eastern League.
Alan Stidfole -
Alan Stidfole, Sean’s twin brother, signed a free agent contract with Toronto following his 2006 season at Penn State. Alan now plays for the Independent Washington (PA) Wild Things.
Matt Cavagnarao -
Matt Cavagnaro, a 2007 draftee of the Pittsburgh Pirates, spent last season playing for the hometown State College Spikes. Matt came out of spring training with a promotion to the Pirates full season A Hickory Crawdads.
Craig Clark -
Craig Clark was a 2007 14th round draft choice of San Francisco. Clark spent last season with the short season Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. This season Clark has been promoted to the full season A Augusta Green Jackets in the South Atlantic League.
Clayton Hamilton -
Clayton Hamilton, a 17th round draft pick of the San Diego Padres, spent the 2007 season playing for the Lynchburg Hellcats, the Pittsburgh Pirates A+ affiliate in the Carolina league. In the off season, he was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Texas Rangers. Coming out of spring training, Hamilton was still unassigned and his status for the season is still up in the air. Hamilton had a cracked rib last season that was misdiagnosed by the Pirate organization as a strain. The rib was removed in the off season and I’m speculating that Hamilton has still not recovered.
Scott Gaffney -
Scott Gaffney was a 12th round pick last year by the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched for the Billings Mustangs in the Pioneer League and has been reassigned to Billings for this upcoming season.
Gary Amato -
Gary Amato, a 2007 48th round draft pick by Pittsburgh, started last season with the Gulf Coast Pirates but eventually worked his way up to State College by the end of the season. Coming out of spring training Amato was again assigned to the Spikes. (NOTE: I’ve been alerted by a reader that Amato is now with Hickory along with Cavy).
Others of note:
Aaron Tressler, a 2004 32nd round draftee by Toronto, was released by Blue Jay organization last week. He had been with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Scott Gummo, signed as a free agent by Tampa Bay last year, was released in November and failed to catch on with anyone over the winter.
Matt Ogrodnik pitched for the independent Washington Wild Things last summer but failed to sign with anyone in the off season.
