Groves’ 6 RBIs too much for YSU

The Penguins face Butler today in an elimination game.

CHICAGO — Josh Groves drove in six runs with a home run and two doubles as Wisconsin-Milwaukee defeated Youngstown State 16-6 in the opening round of the 2007 Horizon League baseball tournament Wednesday.

The fourth-seeded Panthers (24-30) scored eight runs in the seventh inning to finally put away the Penguins (17-36), who rallied twice from deficits.

Youngstown State plays Butler today at noon in an elimination bracket game.

“We have to swing the bats like we did today,” said YSU coach Mike Florak. “We obviously need to pitch a lot better. That’s the key. Pitching is what baseball is all about.”

Early lead

The Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on Nick Wichser’s RBI double and a two-run homer from Groves, his first of the season, off YSU starter Lucas Engle.

The Penguins answered with two runs in the third on a bases-loaded walk and Erich Diedrich’s RBI single, before Tom Clayton doubled and came around on Diedrich’s ground-out in the fifth inning to tie the game at 3-3.

UWM came back in the bottom of the frame on Jesse Hart’s run-scoring double and a sacrifice fly by Groves, but YSU evened the score again in the sixth when Brent Parks hit his fifth homer of the season and Clayton drove in John Koehnlein with a two-out single.

Shawn Wozniak and Diedrich hit homers to tie the game at 6.

Big inning

In the seventh, UW-Milwaukee sent 13 batters to the plate.

Wichser led off with a single and took third on Groves’ double. Rob Brockel scored both runners with a triple, then scored on Grant Berkovitz’s single. Andy Hetebrueg added an RBI single and Groves put the game out of reach with a bases-clearing double.

“The wheels kind of came off there, but other than that it was a pretty even ball game,” Florak said. “It was just a few hits and walks and we had a chance to get double plays back-to-back there and didn’t get either one turned.

“When you do that against a good hitting team that will be the result, especially with the win blowing out like it was today.”

Plenty of hits

Groves finished 3-for-4 at the plate and Wichser and Wozniak each scored three runs for the Panthers, who had 17 hits, including eight for extra bases.

Diedrich drove in three runs and Clayton had three of YSU’s 11 hits.

“Tommy’s a gamer, and he’s got a very bright future here,” Florak said. “I’m excited about the things he’s doing and the type of player that he’s becoming.

“We’re real young, we just have a real young team and we need to keep working hard to get better.”

Engle (4-6) allowed nine runs on 11 hits in six-plus innings.

“You have bad games, but we’re swinging the bats all right,” said Florak. “The pitchers just have to be more precise and eliminate the big inning.”

Cleveland State 6, Butler 1

Nate Radtke’s three-run homer capped a six-run sixth inning as fourth-seeded Cleveland State defeated fifth seed Butler.

CSU left-hander Stephen Procner tossed a complete-game six-hitter for his fourth victory of the season.