YSU Baseball team bows

ysu

Baseball team bows

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Youngstown State allowed three runs in the bottom of the fifth and did not register a hit in the final four innings in dropping the series finale at Alabama 6-2 on Sunday afternoon.

The Penguins made the score 3-2 in the top half of the fifth on David Leon’s two-out double, but UA’s pitching combination of Miers Quigley, Jimmy Nelson and Nathan Kilcrease allowed only two walks the rest of the way. Sean Lucas had two hits for YSU (0-6).

Aaron Swenson allowed all six runs, five of which were earned, on six hits in 4.1 innings. He struck out four and did not walk a batter for the second straight outing.

YSU got on the board in the third when Lucas brought in Mike Turjanica on a two-out single. Leon then brought the Penguins within one in the fifth when he doubled in Dustin Wachter.

Brandon May hit a two-run single and later scored on a wild pitch in the fifth for Alabama’s final tally.

Freshman Phil Klein threw a scoreless sixth, and freshman Matt Tucker retired all six hitters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings.

area

Johnson has big game

INDIANA, PA. — Lindsay Johnson (Springfield Local) collected nine points and four rebounds but California (Pa.) lost to Indiana (Pa.), 67-63.

California (24-6) led 43-31 at the break. IUP is 27-4.

Miller judges fight

MASHANTUCKET, CT. — Tom Miller (Mineral Ridge) was a judge for the IBO Featherweight World Title fight.

Challenger Cristobal Cruz (Tijuana, Mexico) defeated defending champion Thomas Mashaba (Temba, South Africa).

Softball team swinging through Akron

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The U.S. Olympic softball team will swing through Akron, Ohio, this summer on its way to China.

The three-time defending gold medal champions will play at Firestone Stadium on July 22, one of the final stops on its 62-game “Bound 4 Beijing” tour which will conclude July 26 in Irvine, Calif.

The game was originally scheduled to be played in Xenia, Ohio, but had to be switched to Akron because of a construction delay at the facility where they were going to play. Firestone will be a familiar venue for several Olympians. Slugger Crystl Bustos, outfielder Kelly Kretschman and utility player Jenny Topping played there for the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch League.

nation

King passes defending champion in Iditarod

NULATO, Alaska — Four-time winner Jeff King surged ahead of defending champion Lance Mackey early Sunday in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

King shot past Mackey after leaving the checkpoint at Kaltag, 351 miles from the finish line in Nome on Alaska’s western coast. King, of Denali Park, was nine miles in front of Mackey by midmorning, according to a new tracking system the Iditarod is testing this year on 18 mushers, including King and Mackey.

Mackey, of Fairbanks, spent only seven minutes in Kaltag before heading back on the trail with 14 dogs at 9:36 p.m.

world

Hushovd of Norway wins Paris-Nice

AMILLY, France — Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd won the Paris-Nice prologue Sunday, racing along with 159 other riders despite threats of sanctions from the International Cycling Union.

The Credit Agricole rider completed the 2.9-mile prologue around Amilly in 5 minutes, 28 seconds. He was 4 seconds faster than Markel Irizar of Spain and 5 seconds ahead of Stefan Schumacher of Germany.

UCI president Pat McQuaid has urged riders to boycott the season’s first major stage race, calling it “illegal” because the race owners — the Amaury Sport Organization — are holding it under French laws and outside UCI rules.

Soboleva sets world mark in 1,500

VALENCIA, Spain — Yelena Soboleva broke her own world record in winning the 1,500 meters at the World Indoor Championships.

The Russian finished in 3 minutes, 57.71 seconds to shave 0.34 seconds off her former mark. It was the second time this winter she improved on the record. Soboleva earned $90,000 for the title and record.

It was the first world record at the championships this year.

Middlesbrough upset

LONDON — Cardiff extended the run of FA Cup upsets Sunday with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, putting the Welsh team in the semifinals of the English competition for the first time since it won in 1927.

Peter Whittingham and Roger Johnson scored for Cardiff, the only team from outside England to have won the trophy.

Portsmouth is the only Premier League club in the semifinals, with League Championship team Barnsley taking another berth.

Vindicator staff/wire reports

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