Wright stuff just too tough
YSU dropped its Horizon League seriesto Wright State, 3-1.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NILES -- If Youngstown State baseball coach Mike Florak was coaching the cast from the Wizard of Oz, he could deal with the Scarecrow, but never the Tinman.
If you remember the Oz movie, the Scarecrow had no brain, but a big heart, while the Tinman had no heart.
"I don't believe we have any Tinmen on this team, but we might have a few Scarecrows," said Florak, whose Penguins are floundering in the thick of the Horizon League season. "We just don't have our heads in the game right now. We play well for an inning or two and then we're out of it.
"But we'll work it out and we'll get better."
Sunday, the Penguins blew a 5-1 early lead and suffered a 9-5 setback to second-place Wright State at Eastwood Field. The Raiders took the series 3-1.
Pitching problems again
Once again, the Penguins' pitching was a problem.
Junior Chuck Schiffhauer started for the Penguins and breezed along for the first three innings, while his teammates were staking him to a 5-1 lead.
YSU (12-24, 5-11) was the visiting team at Eastwood on Sunday since this was a makeup game from an earlier series at Wright State.
The Penguins scored a run in the first when sophomore John Koenhlein doubled with one out and junior Erich Diedrich moved him to third with an infield single. Koenhlein scored on a wild pitch by the Raiders' starter Scott Ruthven.
In the second the Penguins scored again with one out as Rayce Robinson was hit by a pitch, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored on a single to right by Mike Turjanica.
Again with one out in the third, the Penguins rallied on three straight singles, one a pop-up that Wright State shortstop Ross Oeder lost in the sun, a bloop to left and an infield single which loaded the bases.
After Tom Clayton struck out, Robinson hit a grounder in the hole at short, but Oeder's throw was high, allowing Diedrich to score. Turjanica then singled to right, scoring two more runs.
Schiffhauer got into trouble in the fourth, giving up a lead-off home run to Jeremy Hamilton. The Raiders added another run on an RBI double by Brian Shoup.
Raiders close gap
The Raiders (21-14, 14-7) made it 5-4 in the fifth on three straight singles with Justin Parker driving in the run.
Schiffhauer pitched his way out of a jam in the sixth, but after giving up a lead-off double to Dan Biedenham in the seventh, he was lifted for left-hander Ryan Wackerham.
Wackerham gave up an RBI single to Hamilton and another single to Parker before allowing the second run on a sacrifice fly. Freshman Corey Vukovic came on and got out of the inning but the Penguins trailed 6-5.
Wright State's Jason Bennion, a sidearm-throwing left-hander, relieved Ruthven in the fourth and blanked the Penguins over four and 1/3 innings. In the last three games of the series, Bennion had 7 2/3 scoreless innings of relief against YSU.
Wright State wasn't through as the Raiders plated three more runs in the eight inning, including back-to-back triples, one off Vukovic and the second off Andy Svitak. The Raiders had four hits in the inning and also had a balk by Svitak.
Wright State's Nate Stevens came on for Bennion with one out in the eight and retired the final five Penguins, the last two on a game-ending double play.
The Penguins will be back in action on Wednesday night when they play host to Toledo in a 7 p.m. contest at Eastwood Field.