Penguins ready for tourney

The Youngstown State baseball team just completed a very unusual regular season in which it went through a series of highs and lows, but apparently is riding a high going into the Horizon League Tournament this week in Indianapolis.
The Penguins are 28-25, but how they went about getting there is a story in itself.
YSU struggled through a disappointing regular season a year ago, finishing in last place in the Horizon League, but came to life as the tournament's bottom seed and won its first conference title and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
This year, with most of the team returning, expectations were very high, but the Penguins began the season 1-10. Veteran coach Mike Florak was not the least surprised.
"You have to remember that we opened the season against one of the top-ranked teams in the country in Texas and then played Missouri and some rough games on our southern trip," Florak said.
Florak never lost faith in his team and they responded once they returned North, posting a 23-5 record over the next 28 games.
Florak surprisedby late season slump
What did surprise Florak was the Penguins' late-season slump, which saw them lose nine out of 10 games. Four of those losses were to Kent State, four were to the Horizon's regular season champion Illinois-Chicago and one to Pitt.
The Penguins went from 7-1 in the Horizon League and in first place, to 7-5 and third place going into the weekend's four-game season finale series with UW-Milwaukee at Eastwood Field.
The Penguins needed to win three of the four games to move up to second place and get the No. 2 seed and a first round tournament bye.
They started out by beating the Panthers 9-1 last behind the outstanding pitching of Justin Thomas, then came back Saturday and got another outstanding pitching effort from Andy Svitak in the opener of a doubleheader. They fell behind the Panthers 4-1 in the second game, but rallied to win in eight innings on a sacrifice fly by Brent Parks for a 5-4 win and clinched the No. 2 seed.
"I was a little disappointed in our late season slump," said Florak. "We didn't show the guts and determination that I knew we had in us. But they came back strong and that third victory on Saturday reaffirmed everything that I felt about this club."
The final seeding for the Horizon Tournament, which was announced Sunday, includes UIC as No. 1, YSU, UW-Milwaukee, Wright State, Cleveland State and Butler.
Penguins will playopener on Thursday
With a first-round bye, the Penguins will play the highest seeded winner from Wednesday's opening round Thursday at 3 p.m. at Victory Field in Indianapolis.
Wright State (No. 4) takes on Cleveland State (No. 5) in one game at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, while in the other game UW-Milwaukee (No. 3) takes on Butler (No. 6) at 3 p.m.
What's even more amazing about this Youngstown State team is that there is only one senior on the roster. Infielder/outfielder Jim Phillips from Oregon, Ohio is the lone senior and he's a good one.
Phillips leads the team in hitting with a .356 average and is second on the team in home runs (four).
But the real strength of the YSU squad is its pitching staff, led by junior Thomas (7-5) and sophomore Svitak (5-0), Florak has a host of capable arms to throw at the opposition.
Junior Ken Libeg, a Hubbard native, and who pitched in the championship game a year ago, has been the key middle relief pitcher, while junior Eric Shaffer has also been a capable starter and sophomore Josh Wells has been used both in relief and as a starter.
Could lose pitcherThomas to draft
There is a good chance that the Penguins could lose Thomas to the major league draft next month.
Friday night when he completely dominated UW-Milwaukee for all nine innings, there were many baseball scouts in the stands.
"Everytime he threw the ball you could see radar guns going up from all over from the scouts," said YSU student sports information assistant John Vogel, who covers the baseball team.
Florak says the Penguins are ready for the Horizon League Tournament. On Thursday they'll get their first chance to prove it.
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.