HORIZON LEAGUE BASEBALL Seventh-seeded YSU to face No. 2 Butler

The Penguins split their four games with Butler during the regular season.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State baseball coach Mike Florak has never seen anything like this season.
Florak's Penguins, who sat idle while their season-ending Horizon League series with UW-Milwaukee was washed away, enter Wednesday's Horizon League tournament as the No. 7 seed.
The Penguins are playing host to the tournament for the first time and all the action will be held at Eastwood Field, beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
The Penguins will play No. 2 seed Butler in the opening round Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. -- weather permitting.
"We've had 20 games either canceled or rescheduled this season by the weather," Florak said. "No question this is the worst I've ever seen in my 13 years as a coach."
But Florak is still excited about this week's tournament.
Wide open
"This tournament is so wide open," he said. "It is anyone's tournament and it's going to be exciting. I just hope that people take this advantage to come out and watch some exciting baseball."
The Penguins will carry a disappointing 18-30 season record into the tournament, including 7-10 in the Horizon League.
"Nobody has really dominated play this season," Florak said. "We did well against the top two teams in the standings."
The Penguins took three out of four games from top-seeded Illinois-Chicago and split its four games with Butler.
"Because of the weather nobody has really been able to get into a rhythm this year," Florak added. "Any you can be sure the weather is going to play a factor in the tournament. It's going to be just who can grind it out Wednesday through Sunday."
Florak feels good about the Penguins' chances.
"Our starting pitching is as good as anybody's in the league," Florak said.
He'll go with sophomore Justin Thomas against Butler in the opener. Thomas, one of five starters, has a 6-2 record in 79 innings, with 73 strikeouts, and he's also had four saves. In his last outing he stopped UIC on a one-hit shutout.
Joining Thomas in the rotation includes junior Chris Dennis (1-7), sophomore Kevin Libeg (4-3), sophomore Eric Shaffer (1-4) and sophomore Brian Boone (1-5). Freshman Andy Svitak has made 17 appearances, mostly in relief, and has three saves.
Offense has been a big problem this year, but the weather has had a lot to do with that.
Hitting down
The Penguins are hitting just .262 as a team with only senior Kendall Schlabach hitting over .300. Schlabach, who has 11 doubles, is hitting .316.
Sophomore Brandon Caipen is hitting .299, while sophomore Charles Schultz has a .292 mark. Senior Jim Lipinski, a .288 hitter, has 14 doubles and 31 RBIs, while senior Adams Cox has seven home runs and 31 RBIs. Sophomore Justin Banks has six homers.
No. 4 seed Wright State and No. 5 UW-Milwaukee open the tournament Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., followed by No. 3 seed Cleveland State and No. 6 Detroit at 2:30 p.m.
Should the Penguins win they would not play until Friday at 10:30 a.m. against the winner of the Cleveland State-Detroit game. If YSU loses Wednesday they would play Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
mollica@vindy.com