May 16, 2011
By Kyle G. Arslanian, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - From the beginning of the season, senior Mario Eramo has been part of the plan for head coach Robbie Wine. This weekend against Minnesota, that plan came to fruition as Eramo had a solid series against the Golden Gophers. In three games, Eramo went 4-10 with four runs batted in and three home runs.
Eramo found his power swing as he crushed three home runs over the last two games of the series, including two Sunday. His first home run in the bottom of the fourth Sunday answered a run by Minnesota to put Penn State back up by two. He did the same thing in the bottom of the sixth, giving the Nittany Lions a two run lead for good.
The two monster home runs made the senior slugger the center of attention on senior day and gave Penn State a huge series win as they fight to make the Big Ten Tournament.
"I was happy for Mario," said head coach Robbie Wine. "A senior, going out on senior day the way he did, it's nice to see."
It is also nice to see Mario finding his power swing in the clutch as the regular season winds down. Coach Wine has known Mario could contribute in a big way all season, and is happy to see his slugger hitting his stride.
"He was a big part for the master plan to be in the middle of the lineup there," said head coach Robbie Wine. "Hitters go through streaks, he's a streaky guy. Hopefully he's found it, but I think he's found his confidence I guess over the last couple of weeks, you hoped it would come around. I'm happy for him as a person; he puts in a lot of hard work, he works his butt off and its showing."
Eramo attributes his recent success to working hard and the coaching staff having confidence in him throughout the season.
"It goes to show all the hard work you put in just keep working and keep working and it will all work out in the end and it proved it today," said Eramo. "It feels great finally, the first half of the season was a bit of a struggle for me but like I said, keep working and I knew I was going to come through, they have confidence in me. So coming through is big and it feels good."
Eramo makes up one part of an extremely powerful lineup that is capable of scoring a lot of runs. He and Sean Deegan are the team leaders in home runs, Eramo with nine and Deegan with 10. Deegan also leads the Big Ten in the category. They don't think they have a competition between them, but they push each other to succeed every game.
"We don't even talk about it, I didn't even realize it until today he and I are going for it together," said Eramo. "But I mean if anything it keeps us both motivated to compete and that's what you have to do on the field."
