Penguins baseball splits vs. Marshall

STRUTHERS — Freshman Jim Kinnick earned his first college victory and the Youngstown State baseball team celebrated the program’s 2,000th game with a win against Marshall on Wednesday at Cene Park.

Kinnick allowed two base runners in 31‚Ñ3 innings and the Penguins used a five-run second inning to beat the Thundering Herd 8-5 in the second game a doubleheader.

YSU lost 8-6 in 10 innings in the opener.

Kinnick (1-1) came on in relief of starter Matt Tucker with two outs in the fourth inning, the Penguins leading 6-5 and the tying run at second base for Marshall.

Kinnick got Josh Valle to fly out to end the threat.

In the fifth inning, Nate Lape of Marshall led off with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a flyout, but Kinnick struck out Rhett Stafford and got Kevin Shackelford to fly out.

Kinnick hit Eric Semeniuk to lead off the Marshall sixth, but then Ben Jurevicius grounded into a double play and Kinnick didn’t allow another base runner.

The Penguins (12-28) scored five runs in the second inning, all with two outs, to take control of the nightcap.

With one out, Casey Holland walked and advanced to second on Joe Iacobucci’s ground out. Eric Hymel followed with an infield single and stole second.

David Leon drove in Holland with an infield single to second, then Derek Carr hit an RBI single through the left side to make it 2-0.

Leon then scored on Jacke Healey’s single and the runners advanced a base on an error.

John Koehnlein then drove home both runners with a single.

The Penguins added a run in the third when Jonathon Crist led off with a double and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Iacobucci.

After the Thundering Herd (17-26) closed to 6-5 in the top of the fourth, YSU scored got a run back in the bottom of the inning as Carr walked with one out, went to second when Healey walked and third on an error by Shackleford, the Marshall catcher. Carr scored on a sacrifice fly by Koehnlein.

The Penguins closed the scoring in the sixth when Leon walked, advanced to second on a balk and scored an a triple by Carr.

In the opener the score was tied 2-2 after the regulation seven innings, then both teams scored four times in the ninth. Marshall retook the lead with two runs in the 10th inning.

Koehnlein went 3-for-5 in the opener and Leon had two singles. Healey hit a triple and Iacobucci and Jeremy Banks had doubles.

Thor Meeks hit his eighth home run of the season for Marshall.

Softball

CANFIELD — Sophomore Kristina Rendle went 3-for-5 on the day but the Youngstown State softball team was swept by Pittsburgh, 9-0 and 7-1, at McCune Park.

In the first game, Rendle went 2-for-2 while freshman Jordan Ingalls and senior Allyse Ledford each had one hit for the Penguins (8-37).

In the nightcap, sophomore Kim Klonowski went 2-for-3 and freshman Kristen Philen drove in the Penguins’ only run on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Penguins close out the regular season with a three-game series against Green Bay on Saturday and Sunday at McCune Park. First pitch on Saturday is slated for 1 p.m.

Pittsburgh improved to 23-22.