Penguin sizzling at plate

Two years ago, John Koehnlein felt that Youngstown State University was the perfect fit for him and his baseball future.
Today, the Penguins are the ones who are grateful for that decision.
Koehnlein is finishing up what might have been a Player of the Year season in the Horizon League, but the fact that the Penguins are lodged in last place probably will put a damper on that hope.
The sophomore from Toronto, Ohio, leads the Penguins and the Horizon League in most offensive statistics.
He's hitting .436, which not only leads the Penguins and the Horizon League, but also ranks in the top 10 of NCAA Division I hitters.
Koehnlein's average is the highest by a Penguin since the school moved to Division I in 1982 and is only two percentage points lower then the best in school history, a .438 average by Tom Santore in 1962.
The 6-foot-2, 170-pound outfielder/third baseman is on a 20-game hitting streak, fourth longest in school history. His 89 hits are the most in a season by a Penguin.
In addition to leading the league in average, he is also first in hits (89), fifth in stolen bases (8), fifth in total bases per game (2.05) and seventh in runs scored (40).
YSU's baseball teamstruggles for wins
But the Penguins are still struggling, although splitting against a good UW-Milwaukee team last weekend has helped heal some of the wounds.
Koehnlein will be the first to tell you that in a minute he would trade all of his individual success for the team to be winning games.
"Records don't mean a whole lot when you're not winning," Koehnlein said. "Especially when it's a team like we have that is so much better than the record indicates."
Koehnlein said he chose YSU to further his education and baseball career because of Coach Mike Florak and because the school was close to home.
"My father works up here so he and the rest of the family can get to all the games, which was very important to me," he said. "In the end it was a no-brainer, just a perfect fit."
Koehnlein has played in every game since he joined the team for the 2006 season. He became a starter midway through last season, started hitting and hasn't stopped since.
Koehnlein's bathas been on fire
He finished last season with 42 hits in 129 trips to the plate for a .329 average and hit safely in his last six games.
Koehnlein has hit safely in 43 of 47 games this season. He's had at least two hits in 24 games. Carrying over from last year, he opened the season with a 12-game hitting streak, which was stopped against Southern Illinois. He then started a 13-game streak.
He started his current streak on April 10 against Cleveland State. He tied the school record with five hits against Butler on April 28.
The amazing thing in all this is that Koehnlein revamped his batting swing during the offseason.
"I'm not much of a power hitter, so Coach Florak suggested we make some changes and shorten up my swing, which enables me to hit to all fields," he said.
He has played all three of the outfield positions and third base this season, but really has no preference.
"I'll play wherever they need me to play," Koehnlein said.
Koehnlein has aspirations of playing baseball at the next level.
"I think that everybody who plays this game has that dream," he said. "I know that my education is real important to me, which is something that I find surprising, but I've grown up a lot since I started college.
"I'm doing real well in school and it's important that I get my degree, but if the opportunity comes up and it's a good one I'd love to take a shot at professional baseball."
The Penguins will play non-conference games at Akron on Tuesday and at Duquesne on Wednesday before finishing up Horizon League play on Friday and Saturday at Cleveland State.
They then will take part in the Horizon League Championship tournament which begins on May 23 in Chicago.
Pete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write him at mollica@vindy.com.