Mistakes lead to 9-3 loss for YSU

The Penguins committed four errors against Wright State.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NILES -- Multiple errors against a mediocre baseball team can be troublesome. Committing four in as many innings against the defending Horizon League champions can be disastrous.
Just ask the Youngstown State University baseball team (11-22, 4-9), which was charged with four miscues in Friday's 9-3 defeat to Wright State (19-13, 12-6) at Eastwood Field.
Three errors in the second inning by shortstop Anthony Munoz plus a throwing error by catcher Dustin Wachter in the fourth helped the second-place Raiders jump out to a 7-0 lead.
"They played very well and we played awful," YSU coach Mike Florak said. "That's what happens when you're not aggressive you make errors, you make mistakes -- and that's not going to happen any more. We'll find nine guys who will get after it aggressively."
The Raiders, who hit three homers, were backed by a strong performance by starter Erich Schanz, who scattered six hits, struck out five and allowed two runs in the eight innings he pitched.
"He did a good job of throwing strikes then mixing in off-speed pitches," said YSU designated hitter Erich Diedrich, who tripled and doubled off Schanz in his first two at-bats.
Thinking too much
Diedrich said Penguins batters might have been too selective.
"We let a lot of good ones go by," Diedrich said. "It could be that we're thinking too much -- you know what they say about how 90 percent of this game is [played] above your shoulders."
YSU starter Lucas Engle (3-4) took the loss, allowing eight runs (six earned) in five innings. Diedrich said his pitcher deserved more support.
"When you commit four errors in a game, you're just not going to win," Diedrich said.
Engle needed just four pitches to get the first two Raiders (Ross Oeder and Dan Biedenharn) to ground out to Munoz.
But Jeremy Hamilton worked a full count off Engle then homered over the right-field fence for a 1-0 lead.
"At 3-2, I was looking for something to drive," Hamilton said. "It was a fastball on the inside part of the plate and I got [all of] it."
With two outs in the Penguins' first at-bat, Diedrich tripled to left-center field, but was stranded when Mike Turjanica looked at strike three.
The lead grew to 3-0 in the second inning when the Raiders scored twice on one hit followed by three errors.
Multiple changes
In the fourth inning, Florak shook up his lineup after freshman Lee Bainbridge pinch-hit.
Bainbridge took over at third base, sending John Koehnlein to right field so Sean Lucas could play second base and Josh Page could move to shortstop.
"We work on this all the time -- we want guys who can play multiple positions," Florak said of his youth-laden roster. "We're trying to find nine bats and then figure where they will play later."
John Kopilchack's one-out double triggered the Raiders' four-run outburst in the fourth inning. After Oeder walked and Biedenharn whiffed, Kopilchack took third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error.
After Hamilton doubled on another full-count pitch to score Oeder, he scored on Justin Parker's homer for a 7-0 lead.
"You can't have a better start that," Hamilton said.
Diedrich's lead-off bloop double to shallow left field and Turjanica's single produced the Penguins' first run.
Playing in his second game, Bainbridge's first collegiate hit was his fifth-inning homer.
Freshman Corey Vukovic relieved Engle in the sixth and scattered five hits in the final four innings.
williams@vindy.com