Quick ending closes season

Expectations for a long tournament run were high, but it didn't happen.
SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR
FAIRBORN -- Minutes after teary-eyed Youngstown State baseball players walked out of the third-base dugout at Nitschwitz Stadium, the coaching staff remained behind.
Head coach Mike Florak and his two assistants -- Kyle Sobecki and Craig Antush -- stayed inside staring out at the landscape pondering why the Penguins were eliminated so quickly from the Horizon League Tournament by dropping contests to the two worst teams in the league.
Although seeded fourth, expectations for a long tournament run were high with nine battle-tested seniors and eight wins in the final 10 regular-season contests.
But a 6-4 loss to sixth-seed Cleveland State on Thursday ended the Penguins' campaign abruptly at 26-29.
The defeat came one afternoon following a 5-3 extra-inning defeat to Butler, the tournament's fifth seed.
Stunned
"All loses hurt, but I'm in shock at the way we played this year," Florak said.
"I'm in shock after these two games. It's just very, very surprising and very disappointing."
The game against the Vikings (10-41), who had won just once since April 26 and three times since losing to the Penguins on April 18, was almost identical to the opening-round loss to Butler.
YSU was able to build an early lead, scoring four times in the second inning, and senior starter Eric Shaffer pitched seven strong innings, leaving with a 4-2 lead.
But with one out in the eighth, the Vikings tied the game when Ryan Baechel crushed a first-pitch offering from reliever Kevin Libeg (0-6) over the left-field wall for a two-run homer.
Against Butler, starter Lucas Engle went seven-and-a-third innings, leaving with a two-run lead.
"Engle and Shaffer pitched their guts out," Florak said. "They had outstanding games, but other guys have to be able to pick them up and we just didn't."
Loaded situation
Libeg allowed a single, double and walk to load the bases. Senior Chris Dennis came on to face pinch-hitter Michael Babin and promptly walked in the go-ahead run.
Entering his at-bat, Babin had walked just three times in 95 plate appearances.
Only an inning-ending double play kept YSU within one.
In the bottom of the inning, Josh Page led off with a single and moved to second on Dustin Thomas' sacrifice bunt.
That play knocked CSU starter and Girard product Stephen Procner (1-8) from the game.
Shortstop Charles Schultz, who was 6-for-8 in the tournament, singled off reliever and former Austintown Fitch player Jeremy Hartman, moving Page to third.
However, J.D. Hannan popped up to Hartman and John Koehnlein grounded to second baseman Bobby Cash who after bobbling the ball was able to flip to shortstop Steve Chinn and force out Schultz.
CSU added an insurance run in the ninth before Hartman earned his third save of the year by retiring the Penguins in order.
Early on
Early on, it looked like Youngstown State wouldn't need any late-inning heroics.
YSU scored four runs in the second inning off Procner, but that was it. Schultz had a two-RBI single while Hannan and Koehnlein plated runs on base hits.
The Penguins left the bases loaded in the fourth and seventh innings while double plays ended the fifth and sixth frames.
The bullpen struggles and inopportune hitting weren't lost by Florak.
In the two games, YSU scored all seven of its runs in the first five innings and was outscored 11-0 after the sixth started. The offense had 19 hits, but only one was for extra bases. The bullpen surrendered two two-run leads and suffered losses in both games.
"We swung at a lot of bad pitches," Florak said.
"You get one extra-base hit in two games, you don't deserve to win. Your bullpen gives up three and four runs, allowing seven runs in two games. You're just not going to win that way."