YSU
YSU
Baseball
EAST CLEVELAND -- Strong starting pitching and six RBIs by Erich Diedrich led YSU to a doubleheader sweep, 4-3 and 15-5, of Cleveland State Saturday.
The Penguins (26-27, 16-13 Horizon League) will start the Horizon League tournament as the No. 4 seed. YSU will play No. 5 Butler Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Wright State.
Diedrich hit a two-run single in the 10th inning in game one and he went 3-for-5 with four RBIs in the nightcap to lift his season total to a school record 56. Three of the RBIs came on a three-run home run in YSU's 10-run fourth in game two.
Lucas Engle allowed one run on three hits in five innings in game one but did not factor in the decision. After Chris Dennis threw two innings of shutout relief, Ryan Sellman allowed the tying run in the ninth before picking up the win and improving to 6-0 on the season.
J.D. Hannan singled three times and scored twice, and Brandon Caipen added two hits and two RBIs.
In game two, Eric Shaffer threw five scoreless innings and held the Vikings to five hits in his first start in two weeks. Brian Boone did not allow a hit in his two innings of scoreless relief.
YSU scored all of its runs in the first four innings with four in the first, one in the second and 10 in the fourth. Hannan and Diedrich had three hits apiece to lead YSU's 19-hit attack, and Brent Parks added four RBIs.
UIC won the regular season title and will enter the Horizon League Championship as the No. 1 seed, and UW-Milwaukee earned the No. 2 seed and first-round bye with a sweep of Butler this weekend. Wright State finished with one more win than YSU to earn the third seed, and Cleveland State will enter as the No. 6 seed. The All-Horizon League teams will be announced Tuesday.
LOCAL
Tri-City Speedway
FRANKLIN, Pa. -- Tri-City Speedway will celebrate the Memorial Day Weekend with a full slate of five-star racing as Rankin & amp; Son Excavating presents the Dick Rankin Memorial, featuring the BRP Modified Tour in the second race of the Schwab's Ford Big Block Modified Challenge Series. In addition to the Schwab's Ford DIRT Modifieds, the 4 Your Car Connection Super Sprints, RPM Auto Sales/Shawgo Real Estate E Mods, E.F. Rogers Plumbing & amp; Heating Pro Stocks, and Klapec Auto Body Thundercars will also be in action at the half-mile Venango County oval. Gates open Sunday at 4 p.m. and racing starts at 6. Adult grandstand admission will remain at $11.
REGION
NHRA
KIRKERSVILLE -- Brandon Bernstein improved to 10-1 in Top Fuel finals Sunday, beating Cory McClenathan with a quarter-mile run of 4.531 seconds at 329.58 mph in the Pontiac NHRA Nationals.
In other divisions in the $1.5 million event, Tony Pedregon won the Funny Car competition, Jim Yates topped the Pro Stock cars and Angelle Sampey won the Pro Stock Motorcycles. Pedregon beat Whit Bazemore for his second win in a row and 31st overall.
NATION
Michigan wins regional
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Grace Leutele and Tiffany Worthy hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning and Jennie Ritter had a career-high 19 strikeouts to lift Michigan past Oklahoma 5-2 in the NCAA regional title game Sunday.
The Wolverines (42-13) will continue defending their national championship in a best-of-three series at Tennessee Friday and Saturday.
It took one extra inning for the Wolverines to end the Sooners' season (40-21-1).
Ritter (30-5) struck out 49 batters in three days and remained unbeaten since April 30. The Sooners grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth, snapping Ritter's scoreless string at 46 1/3 innings. The Wolverines, who had opened the scoring in the fourth with doubles by Samantha Findlay and Leutele, quickly made it 2-2 in the fifth. Stephanie Bercaw doubled, stole third and scored the tying run on Rebekah Milian's single to second base.
It stayed that way for three innings, though both teams left the bases loaded. Michigan broke through off Oklahoma freshman D.J. Mathis (15-9) with a leadoff double to left by Alessandra Giampaolo and opposite-field homers to right, a wind-blown fly from Leutele and a no-doubt blast by Worthy.
Ritter took over from there, sandwiching three more strikeouts around the Sooners' seventh single.
Vindicator staff/wire reports