I Friday Sept. 3, 2010
pikes
By Jake Kaplan
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Remove the first inning and the
State College Spikes’ pitching staff
pitched well enough to win
Thursday night’s =
game. SPIKFS
Consider the
way the Spikes hit
with runners in scoring position,
however, and that first inning
made all the difference.
The Spikes struggled to hit with
runners in scoring position en
Collegian file photo
Senior outside hitter Blair Brown serves in a game against Buffalo last season. Brown
was an All-American last year and will be looked toward as a leader this season.
Lions look toward
Brown’s leadership
America accolades last season, is the most
decorated player on the No. 1 Nittany
Lions' squad this year a roster that fea-
Eveiyone on the Penn State women’s tures nine freshmen.
By Emily Kaplan
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
volleyball team looks up to Blair Brown.
Literally, everyone.
ter Fatima Balza admit
ted. “I’m a senior, and I
look up to her as a role
j"S
model.' ]/
That's because Brown, a 6-foot-5 outside
hitter, whose physical net presence and ON THE
powerful swing earned her first-team All- BIOS
Men’s soccer team
starting on road
By Andrew Robinson
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Matheus Braga has heard his
coach drive one point home over
and over again.
The Penn
State men s soc- MEN’S
cer team has had SOCCER
its share of
struggles on the
road in the past four years, going
just 4-20-2.
So it makes sense that this sea
son’s opening games would be
played on the road.
This weekend, the Nittany
Lions travel to Columbus, Ohio to
participate in the Wolstein
Classic.
Philadelphia vs. Milwaukee
7:05 tonight, myphll7
Pittsburgh vs. Washington
7:05 tonight, FSN
Q: Who was the last redshirt freshman
QB to start a game for Penn State?
Thursday’s answer 2001
lose seventh straight game
route to their seventh-straight
loss, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of
the Auburn Doubledays Thursday
night at Medlar
Field at Lubrano
Park
Though the ' 1
Spikes (32-40) Auburn
managed seven
hits, they hit just
l-for-8 with run
ners in scoring
position and left State College
11 runners on
base. Both of their two runs were
So when Penn State takes on Seton Hall
at 7 tonight at Rec Hall kicking off the
See BROWN. Page 12.
WOMEN’S
VOLLEYBALL
After going 2-0 in the presea
son, Penn State faces off against
Buffalo Friday at 5 p.m. and the
College of Charleston at noon on
Sunday.
For Braga, a senior midfielder
from Brazil, and his teammates,
the dawn of a new season is
something they have been await
ing.
“We’re real excited, every time
we have our first game it’s the
See MEN’S SOCCER, Page 12.
OTo read a scouting report
on Buffalo, check out the
Blogging, Kicking and
ON THE Screaming blog:
BLOG psucollegian.com
Sabathia gets 19th win
CC Sabathia pitched one-hit ball for eight
innings to earn his major league-leading
19th win, fill-in Curtis Granderson homered
twice and the New York Yankees beat the
Oakland Athletics 5-0 Thursday for a four
game sweep.
Sabathia (19-5) breezed on a steamy
afternoon, nicked only by Mark Ellis’ clean
single leading off the second. Jonathan
Albaladejo completed the combined one
hitter in the ninth.
Granderson hit a solo homer and a two
run shot as a replacement for Nick Swisher,
who left after one inning because of a stiff
left knee. Jorge Posada also homered a day
after being ejected.
scored after third baseman
Kelson Brown led off the inning
with an extra-base hit and came
around to score on either a sacri
fice fly or a ground ball out.
“I think we’re pressing a little
bit at the plate, trying to do too
much,” Brown said. “We realize
that we’ve lost seven in a row and
when we are in a close ball game
with runners in scoring position,
we just try to do too much when
really we should be loose and just
doing what we do normally.”
State College starting pitcher
To read scouting reports on this
weekend's women’s volleyball
opponents, check out the Can
You Dig It? blog:
psucollegian.com
leers coach Scott Balboni looks on during a game
against West Virginia last season.
Tyler Waldron (4-7, 3.90) entered
the game knowing he had pitched
two great games earlier in the
season against Auburn (34-38). He
earned consecutive wins against
the Doubledays on July 19 and
July 24, pitching five and six
innings of shutout ball in those two
starts, respectively.
Thursday’s first inning was a
different story as three doubles
and a single off Waldron later, and
the Spikes faced an early 3-0
deficit.
Though Waldron said he was
Royster nearing
rushing record
By Andrew J. Cassavell
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
By midseason, Evan Royster will likely
be in the Penn State history books.
The senior running back is 481 yards
from passing Curt Warner ■
to become the school’s all
time rushing leader, and FOOTBALL
barring any injuries, “=====
October seems like the best bet.
Royster's sight is on Warner’s mark at a
program steeped in tradition at tailback a
journey the fifth-year senior starts noon
Saturday against Youngstown State. While
the names and the history aren’t lost on
Royster, he sees the record simply as a
sidebar to the 2010 season.
“It’s not as much a priority as a benefit,”
said Royster, who is currently eighth all
time with 2,918 rushing yards. “When it
happens, it'll be great, but I kind of need to
forget about it coming into the season. I
need to focus on becoming a better player
and making my team better.”
Last year, Royster became one of only
seven Nittany Lions to record multiple
1,000-yard seasons. He is in the top 10 in
many preseason Heisman Trophy leader
boards.
Royster said the record can’t leave
his mind but he will have more
Collegian file photo
Evan Royster (22) breaks away from tacklers during Penn State’s loss to lowa last sea
son. Royster is 481 yards away from becoming Penn State’s all-time leading rusher.
USA routs Tunisia
With nothing to play for, the United States
looked as if it didn’t want to play.
Outworked and outhustled, the
Americans led winless Tunisia by only four
points early in the third quarter before
turning the game into a rout over the final
15 minutes of a 92-57 victory Thursday.
Eric Gordon scored 21 points for the U.S.,
which had already clinched first place in its
group and was more interested in getting
through this one healthy which it didn’t
do than earning any style points.
“It happens,” center Lamar Odom said.
“These teams are pumped up to play
against us. You’re not going to always blow
a team out in the first three or four minutes
of a game.”
The U.S. (5-0) next plays on Monday
against Angola.
frustrated after the first stanza, he
said he sat down with pitching
coach Mike Steele, who helped
him realize the first inning was
over and he had to move on.
“Now what I have to do is come
out and get to five and help my
bullpen and keep us in the game,”
Waldron said.
That was exactly what he did in
pitching four scoreless innings of
See SPIKES, Page 12.
For a story on the Spikes' Kelson
Brown | SPORTS, Page 9.
time to reflect after the season.
At Big Ten Media Days last month, a
reporter began a question with, “When
you can look back five years from n0w...”
“Even 50 years from now it’ll be pretty
awesome,” Royster interjected. “It’s excit
ing and it’s something that I’m gonna take
with me forever."
He added it will be “the greatest individ
ual achievement of my life,” but he wants
“to get it out of the way so I can just get on
with the season."
Royster won’t be the only one in the
backfield making history this year, as
Robert Bolden will become the first true
freshman to start a season at quarterback
in the Joe Patemo era. The two backups at
quarterback, sophomores Kevin
Newsome and Matt McGloin, should also
see time and have a combined 13 passes in
their collegiate careers.
With the lack of experience under cen
ter, Royster said he expects to shoulder
more of the burden on offense.
“It’s important that I’m ready to take on
See ROYSTER. Page 12.
Watch The Daily Collegian football
writers' Youngstown State preview
video:
ONLINE psucollegian.com
leers prepare
to fill roster
By Anthony Barton
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Wednesday at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, more
than 40 skaters will be vying for one of 28 Penn
State leers roster spots.
With returning players and
freshman recruits, head coach
Scott Balboni knows at least 37
skaters will show up, but he also expects a number
of walk-on hopefuls.
“I’m trying to get [the players’] best ability out of
them over the next two weeks to make sure that we
put the best team of 28 guys together,” Balboni
said.
From last year's team, five seniors graduated
while 25 leers return for the tryout, although
Balboni said players who were on last year’s team
are not necessarily guaranteed a spot on this
year’s squad.
Sympathize with Morgan
It’s common baseball courtesy. Injure a
player on the opposing team, and get
ready to be plunked next time up.
The Marlins took care of Nyjer Morgan
Wednesday by hitting him in the fourth. It
was appropriate retaliation for Morgan
separating catcher Brett Hayes’s shoulder
during a collision at the plate Tuesday.
So business was taken care of.
But when Chris Volstad threw another
pitch behind Morgan in the sixth inning of
the game Wednesday, he was just chal
lenging Morgan to ‘visit’ him at the mound.
Morgan may have been labeled the bad
guy, for this, but the Marlins could have
ended it long before.
The Daily Collegian
ICERS
See ICERS, Page 12.