The Penguins are scheduled to play at Pittsburgh today at 3 p.m.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
STRUTHERS — When his team scores 11 runs and gets 15 hits Youngstown State baseball coach Mike Florak feels his team should win the game.
But the Penguins' pitching gave up 18 runs on 17 hits to Duquesne University Tuesday afternoon, dropping an 18-11 decision at Cene Park.
If things weren't bad enough for the Penguins (9-15), they also committed four errors and the five YSU pitchers combined for six hit batsmen and three wild pitches. Those five also combined for 13 strikeouts which was the most the Penguins have had this season.
The 18 runs were the most the Penguins have given up since the 2003 season when they gave up 19 runs to Tennessee Tech.
The problems
"It was very disappointing to say the least," said Florak. "Obviously we didn't get the pitching we needed and we gave up too much defensively."
Florak didn't think that the Penguins' three one-run losses to Horizon League opponent UIC over the weekend had any effect on their performance Monday.
"If anything you would have thought it would have made them more hungrier for a victory today," Florak added.
The game took over 31/2 hours to play and it could be a costly one for the Penguins, who had senior first basemen Lou Gattozzi injured in the seventh inning.
Gattozzi had his ankle stepped on as he completed a double play in the seventh. After the play some heated arguments took place and the results were two Duquesne players were ejected from the game.
Duquense coach Mike Wilson was ejected for arguing with the umpires in the eighth inning.
But it never affected the Dukes' bats.
Poor start
The Dukes (11-12) jumped on YSU starter Eric Marzec for five runs in the first four innings. After Duquesne added another run off reliever Cory Hornyak in the fifth the Penguins came to life.
Trailing 6-2 YSU rallied for five runs and sent nine batters to the plate. The Penguins collected six hits, including doubles by Tom Clayton and Royce Robinson and took a 7-6 lead.
But it didn't last long as the Dukes, who had earlier home runs by Eric Morrison and Mike Carroll, batted around themselves in the sixth inning and scored six times on five hits and were back in command 12-7.
Never giving up the Penguins started off the bottom of the sixth inning with three straight singles, including one by junior Erich Diedrich, which extended his hitting streak to 18 straight games.
All three runners scored, including one on a wild pitch, to pull the Penguins to 12-10.
After Gattozzi was hurt in the seventh, which was only one of two innings that the Penguins retired the Dukes in order, YSU couldn't get anything going.
In the eighth, the Dukes batted around for the second time in the game, sending 11 batters to the plate, scoring five more runs on four hits, two YSU errors and three hit batsmen.
Diedrich doubles
YSU would add one more run in the eighth on Diedrich's double to right, an error and a sacrifice fly by Clayton.
The Penguins had seven batters with two hits including Diedrich, Sean Lucas, John Koehnlein, Gattozzi, Josh Page, Clayton, and Rayce Robinson.
Hornyak was charged with the loss dropping him to 1-1 on the season.
Duquesne was led by Morrison and Carroll with three hits each, both getting a home run and Morrison also had a triple. Aaron Janusey also homered for the Dukes.
The Penguins are scheduled to play at Pittsburgh today at 3 p.m. YSU has also rescheduled a game against Ohio University, which will be played April 24 at 2 p.m. at Cene Park.
mollica@vindy.com
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
The Penguins are scheduled to play at Pittsburgh today at 3 p.m.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
STRUTHERS — When his team scores 11 runs and gets 15 hits Youngstown State baseball coach Mike Florak feels his team should win the game.
But the Penguins' pitching gave up 18 runs on 17 hits to Duquesne University Tuesday afternoon, dropping an 18-11 decision at Cene Park.
If things weren't bad enough for the Penguins (9-15), they also committed four errors and the five YSU pitchers combined for six hit batsmen and three wild pitches. Those five also combined for 13 strikeouts which was the most the Penguins have had this season.
The 18 runs were the most the Penguins have given up since the 2003 season when they gave up 19 runs to Tennessee Tech.
The problems
"It was very disappointing to say the least," said Florak. "Obviously we didn't get the pitching we needed and we gave up too much defensively."
Florak didn't think that the Penguins' three one-run losses to Horizon League opponent UIC over the weekend had any effect on their performance Monday.
"If anything you would have thought it would have made them more hungrier for a victory today," Florak added.
The game took over 31/2 hours to play and it could be a costly one for the Penguins, who had senior first basemen Lou Gattozzi injured in the seventh inning.
Gattozzi had his ankle stepped on as he completed a double play in the seventh. After the play some heated arguments took place and the results were two Duquesne players were ejected from the game.
Duquense coach Mike Wilson was ejected for arguing with the umpires in the eighth inning.
But it never affected the Dukes' bats.
Poor start
The Dukes (11-12) jumped on YSU starter Eric Marzec for five runs in the first four innings. After Duquesne added another run off reliever Cory Hornyak in the fifth the Penguins came to life.
Trailing 6-2 YSU rallied for five runs and sent nine batters to the plate. The Penguins collected six hits, including doubles by Tom Clayton and Royce Robinson and took a 7-6 lead.
But it didn't last long as the Dukes, who had earlier home runs by Eric Morrison and Mike Carroll, batted around themselves in the sixth inning and scored six times on five hits and were back in command 12-7.
Never giving up the Penguins started off the bottom of the sixth inning with three straight singles, including one by junior Erich Diedrich, which extended his hitting streak to 18 straight games.
All three runners scored, including one on a wild pitch, to pull the Penguins to 12-10.
After Gattozzi was hurt in the seventh, which was only one of two innings that the Penguins retired the Dukes in order, YSU couldn't get anything going.
In the eighth, the Dukes batted around for the second time in the game, sending 11 batters to the plate, scoring five more runs on four hits, two YSU errors and three hit batsmen.
Diedrich doubles
YSU would add one more run in the eighth on Diedrich's double to right, an error and a sacrifice fly by Clayton.
The Penguins had seven batters with two hits including Diedrich, Sean Lucas, John Koehnlein, Gattozzi, Josh Page, Clayton, and Rayce Robinson.
Hornyak was charged with the loss dropping him to 1-1 on the season.
Duquesne was led by Morrison and Carroll with three hits each, both getting a home run and Morrison also had a triple. Aaron Janusey also homered for the Dukes.
The Penguins are scheduled to play at Pittsburgh today at 3 p.m. YSU has also rescheduled a game against Ohio University, which will be played April 24 at 2 p.m. at Cene Park.
mollica@vindy.com
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
When his team scores 11 runs and gets 15 hits Youngstown State baseball coach Mike Florak feels his team should win the...
