Vikings go ‘Yard’ against YSU — that’s Pipe Yard

SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR

LORAIN — Cleveland State hit four home runs and benefited from 10 unearned runs to defeat Youngstown State 19-8 on Friday evening at The Pipe Yard.

The result moves the teams into a tie for third place in the Horizon League standings with an 8-6 conference record.

Youngstown State had just one fewer hit than Cleveland State, 16-15, but the Penguins committed five errors and walked seven batters.

Joe Iacobucci and Josh Page both singled and had two doubles to lead the Penguins. The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon.

Cleveland State led early after scoring two unearned runs in the first, but YSU took its only lead of the game with a four-run third. Erich Diedrich drove home Page on a groundout, and Anthony Porter singled in Iacobucci with two outs to tie the score. Eric Marzec then hit a two-run homer to left center to make the score 4-2.

Alex Kerins hit a two-run homer in the third to tie the score, and the Vikings tacked on two more with three straight hits after two men were out to take a 6-4 lead. CSU then blew the game open with a seven-run fourth that gave them a 13-4 advantage. The Vikings hit back-to-back homers in the inning, and four of their runs were unearned.

The Penguins climbed back into the game with a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth, but the Vikings scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth for the final tally.

Chuck Schiffhauer was tagged with the loss for YSU, allowing eight runs on eight hits in three innings.

Josh Hungerman got the win for Cleveland State despite allowing seven runs on 13 hits in 5 1/3 innings. Three CSU relievers combined to throw 3 2/3 scoreless innings and surrendered just two hits.