YSU finishes a Texas-sized achievement

By AVERY HOLTON
SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR
AUSTIN, Texas -- Even the gutsy don't always get the glory.
Minus his best pitching, Eric Shaffer limited Texas Christian to three runs over the first five innings of Saturday's NCAA Austin Regional elimination game and Jim Phillips homered twice, but it wasn't enough as Youngstown State, ranked 63rd of 64 teams, fell 12-8 and out of its first-ever national tournament.
"We played a good game today and these guys don't have anything to be down about," Penguins coach Mike Florak said. "We won our conference and today's loss can't take anything away from that."
Unbalanced production
Youngstown State (22-33) rattled off a dozen hits over the first five innings, but managed just one, Phillips' seventh-inning homer, over the final four frames.
By the time Shaffer, a Horizon League all-tournament sophomore, entered for the top of the sixth at Disch-Falk Field, the Horned Frogs (39-25) had used a freshman starter, a spot-starter, a closer and a middle reliever, none of whom could keep the Penguins from building a 7-3 lead.
Shaffer, meanwhile, shut down TCU after a three-run second and didn't allow another run until Bo Cogbill's RBI single with one out in the sixth.
That opened the door for Chad Huffman's run-scoring double down the left-field line that put both Cogbill and Huffman in scoring position. Austin Adams then drilled a change-up to left that tied the score at 7 and finally forced Shaffer out after 51/3 innings.
"Ideally, Eric would have lasted into the eighth and we could have had something to work from then," Florak said. "We didn't pitch like we had been."
Chris Neuman hit his 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot over the right-field wall, off reliever Mike Hosterman to cap a six-run sixth that propelled the Horned Frogs ahead 9-7. TCU tacked on three more runs in the eighth on five hits.
Penguin lead
Youngstown State's momentum spiked over the third and fourth innings when the Penguins took a 6-3 lead.
After YSU scored three in the third, Kendall Schlabach knocked in the go-ahead run in the fourth off Ryan Weems -- a typical starter and the third Horned Frog pitcher of the game -- with a lazy looper to right-center. Brandon Caipen and Charles Schultz followed with RBI singles to center and right that put the Penguins ahead 6-3 and forced TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle to call in right-hander Robbie Findlay, his fourth pitcher of the game.
"We felt good being ahead, but we needed more," said Phillips, who went 3-for-3 with four runs and three RBIs. "I feel real bad for the seniors; this isn't the way any of us wanted it to end for those guys."
In its first appearance in the national tournament since moving up to Division I in 1983, Youngstown State held the lead once for half an inning over 2002 national champion Texas on Friday, had 24 hits in its two games and scored 11 runs.
Batting in the ninth slot, Phillips laced his second home run of the season over the left-field wall off TCU freshman Chase Perry to pull Youngstown State to within 3-1 in the bottom of the third.
The shot sparked the Penguins, who loaded the bases with one out, forcing Perry from the game. Junior right-hander Andrew Allar took over, recording one out before Adam Cox drove in two runs on a bounder through the left side to tie the score.
Phillips homered to left again in the seventh off Findlay to close the gap to 9-8.
"It wasn't a pretty game either way, but if you survive, you advance," Schlossnagle said. "We would have preferred to have closed it out earlier, saved some of our pitching, but it didn't work out that way."
Scoring recap
The Horned Frogs led the second off with a double and two singles, scoring the game's first run on Neuman's hard infield liner. Shaffer then worked a pair of outs and had Neuman picked off at first, but Jim Lipinski went home with the throw in an attempt to catch Shelby Ford sneaking home from third.
Cox applied the tag in time, but the ball squirted out and gave TCU its second run. A follow-up chopper off the bat of J.J. Estrada fooled Phillips at third, allowing another run to cross. Two more reached before Shaffer worked out of the inning.
"What happened today wasn't what we planned, but it wasn't a fluke," Florak said. "We won our conference and have been one of the better teams in the Horizon League for three years.
"We don't have to prove anything to anyone anymore."
XAvery Holton is a free-lance writer from Austin, Texas.