YSU

YSU
Baseball
INDIANAPOLIS -- Senior Eric Shaffer (Akron) was named Horizon League pitcher of the week.
Shaffer held Wright State scoreless for 8 2/3 innings before allowing a run in the ninth to pick up his third win of the season and first against a Horizon League opponent. He allowed only one extra base hit in the outing, which was his longest since he threw nine innings against Cleveland State on April 18, 2003. The senior also did not allow a hit or run in one inning of relief at Duquesne.
Softball
MOON TWP., Pa. -- Sophomore Jamie Fornal went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and hit one of three home runs to lift YSU (10-11) to a 6-4 victory in game two of a doubleheader against Robert Morris Monday.
The Penguins lost the opener, 5-4.
The Penguins jumped in front early with two runs in the first inning. Freshman Kristen McDonnell walked and stole second with two outs and scored on Fornal's single. Fornal moved to second on the throw and scored on a single by Allyse Ledford and an error.
After the Colonials took the lead, 3-2, with three runs in the bottom of the first, senior Lacey Hess tied the score with a solo home run, her third of the year, in the second.
The Penguins regained the lead, 5-3, when McDonnell hit a home run and Fornal scored an unearned run.
Fornal's blast, her third of the season, gave the Penguins a 6-3 cushion in the fifth.
Junior Karlie Burnell picked up her fifth victory of the season, tossing a complete game six-hitter.
In the opener, McDonnell, who has five home runs, went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, while Ledford went 2-for-3 and Hess hit her second home run of the season.
Soccer
YOUNGSTOWN -- Coaches Anthony James and Greg Mitchell will hold an Easter break day camp April 17-21 for boys and girls ages six to 13.
The camp will be held each day from 9 a.m. to noon. Cost is $70 per person. For more information call (330) 941-3629 or complete a brochure at www.ysusports.com.
LOCAL
Meeting set for city middle school football
YOUNGSTOWN -- Parents of sixth, seventh and eighth grade boys in the city schools are invited to an informational meeting Wednesday on the district's new combined junior and middle school football programs. Average football team numbers for the past four years have been just 13 to 16 athletes on a team at the individual schools.
Wrapping four individual programs into two joint programs will increase the pool of athletes, creating a stronger atmosphere of competition, school officials said.
Volney Rogers Junior High and the Alpha School of Excellence for Boys will be combined as the South-West Team while the Hayes and East middle schools will combine as the North-East Team.
The district will hold an informational meting at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Choffin Career & amp; Technical Center to outline the program for parents and prospective players.
The individual programs had only combined seventh and eighth grade teams and the younger players seldom got into a game. Now, the combined schools will have separate seventh and eighth grade teams, school officials said. Improving the football program at this level will help keep students in the Youngstown City Schools, officials said, noting that the two larger programs will be better feeder systems for the district's high schools.
College roundup
*SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Slippery Rock's Derek Blyzwick was named Western Division pitcher of the week by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
Blyzwick, a junior right-hander from Moon, Pa., tossed a two-hit shutout against Indiana (Pa.). He struck out nine batters in the 2-0, seven-inning victory.
Blyzwick is 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA this season.
*ALLIANCE -- Nic Carucci and John Biacofsky of Mount Union College were weekly award winners in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
Carucci was named baseball pitcher of the week for earning two wins and a save in 13 2/3 innings. Carucci, from Nordonia, is 6-0 this season with a 1.59 earned run average.
Biacofsky was named outdoor track athlete of the week. He won the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the Mount Unvitational, qualifying for the NCAA Division III national meet in the 100 with a time of 10.27 seconds. He also provisionally qualified in the 200 (21.45).
Biacofsky is from Willoughby.
Vindicator staff/wire reports