THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Wrestlers eyeing NCAA tourney By Ryan Loy COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER The collegiate wrestling season can be divided into three parts the regular sea son, conference championships and nation al championships with _ each building in impor tance. Right Aar now, six members of the Penn State wrestling team are mak ing the transition to the pinnacle of the sea son as they prepare to compete at the 2010 NCAA championships, - which begin Thursday in Omaha, Neb. The six Nittany Lion grapplers earned the opportunity to wrestle for a national title by leading the Lions to a strong per formance at the Big Ten championships March 6-7. Senior Cyler Sanderson led the way as he won the title at 157 pounds by beating high school teammate Colton Salazar of Purdue to become the Lions' 20th Big Ten champi on. It was the second conference title for Sanderson, as he won the Big 12 champi onship as a sophomore at lowa State. "It felt great," Sanderson said of winning the Big Ten title. "It's great preparation for the national tournament." Sanderson was the only Penn State grap pler to compete in a championship bout after seven made it to the semifinals. Though the Lions were in second-place after the first session of the championships, PSU ends road trip with close loss to Texas State By Stephen Hennessey COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Steven Hill knew his teammates had a rally in them. The Penn State baseball team had lost its last four games by a BASEBALL total of 44 runs, but Hill exited Sunday's game with his team trailing by only two runs. The Nittany Lions tied the game in the eighth inning, but Texas State won, 5-4, on a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning off junior pitcher Jesse Alfreno. "We haven't been in many ball games. The last couple of them, we tipped our cap early and bowed out," Hill said. "We were in it for all nine ADVERTISE IN THE DAILY COLLEGIAN SEE RESULTS FAST! We're Penn State Proud! The Daily Collegian is our chosen voice to reach more than 44,000 every day in the Penn State Community. -1:P. Mills, Director of Marketing & Nightlife Operations Dante's Restaurants & Dante's Nightlife (The Deli Restaurant, Mario & Luigi's, Hi Way Pizza, The Saloon, bar bleu, Inferno Brick Oven & Bar) WANT RESULTS LIKE THIS SINESSt* their 1-6 record in the semifinals led to the, team's fifth-place finish in the tournament. Even with the difficulties late in the tourna ment, the Lions improved on last season's seventh-place showing. Senior Dave Erwin was one of the Lions to lose in the semifinals, and the 184- pounder believes he and his teammates didn't perform up to their normal standard in the late rounds. Erwin said each Lion wrestler competing at NCAAs is working to make individual adjustments. "Different guys are working on different things to improve," Erwin said. "For me, I just have to work on finishing shots and things like that.- WRESTLING Senior 165-pounder Dan Vallimont echoed Erwin, saying he's looking to improve on finishing his shots quicker, among other little things. The Penn State grapplers don't want to make too many changes to their game. Prior to the conference championships, coach Cael Sanderson said wrestlers often try to make too many adjustments in the postseason, rather than wrestling to their own style. Three of the Lions know they have what it takes to get past the first round, as Vallimont, Erwin and Brady Pataky each defeated their first opponent in a regular season bout. Regardless of what happened'in the past be it the regular season or conference championships each wrestler starts over innings today. I would take the loss as a positive just because we got a lot of confidence in our abilities as a team.- Sunday's loss was the Lions' seventh straight, capping a road Texas State trip in which they went 2-7 overall. The Lions (4-8) were swept in their games Penn State against Texas A&M, Texas State and Lamar and defeated Dallas Baptist and McNeese State. Freshman outfielder Steve Snyder tied the game for the Lions on an infield single in the eighth inning Sunday, scoring sophomore Sean Deegan. ip, Purl'. ititycj 11 1 , 1 P-1117 1- %Al £it Sian INFERNO tt Ito F.;p!c 3,4 SPORTS Steph Witt/Collegian Penn State's Cyler Sanderson (top) will compete for the NCAA title at 157 pounds. Five other Nittany Lions will try to win titles in their respective weight classe., at the NCAA cham pionships, which start Thursday in Omaha, Neb. and has the opportunity to make a name for ing on all year and the last few years," himself at nationals. Erwin said. "It's always fun to go out and In his final season, that's what Erwin is wrestle in front of a big crowd. There's looking to do. nothing else like it." "I'm looking to go out there to Omaha and show the country what I've been work- Texas State's Shaun Garcia hit a fly ball to center field in the last inning, which gave Texas State its third-straight vic tory over the Lions .4iir • {/ •• •. • ,y .••• "That's one thing over the week that we didn't get the feel ing that any of our guys quit by any means," pitching Hill coach Jason Bell said. "Everyone still battled and com- peted. The results weren't there, but the effort was." Hill gave up two runs in six innings pitched Sunday, putting his season ERA at 2.47. The freshman said he threw strikes early in the count, which allowed him to get in control of the lineup. Aside from Sunday's game, the pitching staff submitted lackluster performances in its last five games. The Lions dropped two games apiece to Texas A&M, 17-3 and 7-0, and Texas State, 15-6 and 20-6. Bell said the biggest disappoint ment was the amount of walks given up by his staff. In Friday's 20-6 defeat, the staff surrendered 15 walks to Texas State. "We have to stay aggressive and continue to attack the strike zone, - Bell said. "Make the other team put the ball in play and let our defense make plays." Snyder and junior Heath team well + Live well lionscrossing.com nit tanycrossingpa.corn collegeparkpa.com MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010 I 9 To e-mail reporter: rmlsl3B@psu.edu Johnson both had two hits for the Lions on Sunday. Johnson said he focused on swinging down because he had been getting underneath the ball prior to Sunday. Despite another disappointing loss, Johnson said it's - go-time" for the Lions right now He said the team needs to get right back to work Monday. Hill hopes Sunday's effort will help the Lions to get off their los ing slide. - This team has a lot of fight in it," Hill said. "We're not going to get down. If we're losing by three or two, it doesn't matter. We're still trying hard to come back." To e-mail reporter: slhso37@psu.edu
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