Grand slam helps Hoosiers in win over Lions

IU made a major step in getting back into the hunt for the Big Ten championship with an 11-9 victory over Penn State Saturday at Sembower Field.\n"I am glad that we were able to get the victory," coach Bob Morgan said in a press release. "Penn State swung the bat well and they are a strong offensive team. It was good that we hung on and now we have to build on that and come out and play on Sunday."\nThe Nittany Lions (18-23, 7-13) opened the game with a single run in the top of the first, but the Hoosiers (29-12, 10-8) answered in strong fashion by posting three of their own runs in the bottom of the first to take an early 3-1 lead. After sophomore Mark Calkins grounded out to score junior Kennard Jones, junior Vasili Spanos stepped to the plate and hit a two-run home run in center field to give the Hoosiers the advantage.\nPenn State answered with two of its own in the top of the second and the teams remained knotted, 3-3, until the middle of the game. In the bottom of the fifth, the Hoosiers posted five runs and took a commanding 8-3 lead.\nJones singled to open the inning, and after a pair of ground outs, Spanos was intentionally walked. Sophomore Joe Kemp singled up the middle to score Jones, and senior Gibran Hamdan was walked to load the bases for junior Nick Evans. Evans took the first pitch and crushed it over the right field wall for a grand slam. The slam was Evans' first home run of 2002 and the second of his career. \n"Evans' grand slam really started us early," Morgan said. "We were able to extend the lead late in the ballgame and those were the keys to the victory."\nPenn State posted a pair in the top of the sixth to close the gap to 8-5, but IU answered with a single run on Spanos' RBI sacrifice fly to take a 9-5 lead. The teams traded scoreless seventh innings and Penn State posted a single run in the top of the eighth to close to within three, 9-6. \nThe Hoosiers were able to post another pair in the bottom of the eighth to extend the lead to 11-6. Jones singled one more time to open the inning and promptly stole second. Spanos came through one more time with an RBI single to score Jones. Kemp singled and Hamdan followed with a single to score Spanos and give the Hoosiers some insurance.\nIU had a major scare in the top of ninth, though, as Penn State punched in four hits to score three runs and closed out the ballgame 11-9.\nSpanos finished the day 2-3 with four RBI, his 13th home run of the season and three runs scored. Jones extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a two-hit afternoon that saw him walk twice and score all four times he got on base. Senior Eric Blakeley and Kemp each had a pair of hits and a run scored. Kemp also had one RBI. Evans finished 1-3 with a grand slam and four RBI.\nJunior righthander Nick Vitielliss threw seven innings and gave up four earned runs on 12 hits while striking out four and walking two. With the victory, Vitielliss improved to 6-0 on the season.\n"Vitielliss struggled a bit today," Morgan said. "He hung in there and did a solid job. The defense was also able to get some double plays and get us out of jams, but he really did a good job."\nIU and Penn State played a Sunday doubleheader and will finish out the series with a game today at 1 p.m.