BIG TEN TOURNEY Penn St. stays alive with rally in ninth inning

The Nittany Lions beat Michigan in an elimination game.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- This time Penn State was still standing at the end.
Just 24 hours after losing to Minnesota in the bottom of the ninth, the fourth-seeded Nittany Lions reversed their fortune with a two-run ninth inning to win 3-2 against No. 3 Michigan on Saturday in the Big Ten tournament at Siebert Field.
The Nittany Lions (29-27), who sent Michigan (30-27) home for the summer, was to face the loser of the Minnesota-Ohio State game Saturday night.
Close games are nothing new to these two teams. They split a four-game series during the regular season, and each team scored 19 runs in the four games.
"If you play games this close, something is going to happen to you," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "We didn't hit well enough to win in this tournament.
First run
The Nittany Lions scratched out a run in the top of the third against Bobby Garza on a leadoff double by Smithlin and two sacrifices. Michigan quickly tied the score at one in the fourth on a single and throwing error, a sacrifice and a groundout against Nittany Lions starter Jared Hopewell.
Penn State started the tense ninth inning with a single off Wolverines starter Bobby Garza's foot, and a hit batter put runners on first and second. Tim Leveque relieved Garza, but Michigan committed back-to-back infield errors to give Penn State a 2-1 lead. Zack Smithlin hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.
"I'm a ground-ball hitter," Smithlin said. "So our hitting coach [Jon Ramsey] comes up to me and says, 'If there's ever a time not to hit a ground ball with the bases loaded, it's now.' Luckily I was able to lift it into left."
Turns out the Nittany Lions needed that third run.
Michigan mounted a rally with two outs in the bottom of the ninth off Penn State reliever Josh Palm (4-6). An RBI single by Jake Fox cut the lead to one, but Mike Sokol struck out to end the game with runners on first and second.
"You'd like to hit a few grand slams to be able to relax out there but it doesn't happen like that," said Penn State coach Joe Hindelang.
"It was another close one," Hindelang said. "Sometimes I wish I could just watch rather than coach.