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YSU, UIC split grueling marathon at Eastwood
By JON MOFFETT
NILES
After spending more than 11 hours on the field, Youngstown State baseball coach Rich Pasquale had a simple message for his team after two grueling and exhausting games.
“I told them, ‘Happy Easter,’ ” Pasquale said.
There was not much left to say after the Penguins (12-12) split a doubleheader with UIC (University of Illinois-Chicago) at Eastwood Field on Saturday. UIC won the first game 9-7, and YSU followed with a 14-13 victory.
Both games combined for 43 runs on 49 hits in seven hours and four minutes. Throw in warm-ups, batting practice and a short break between the two games, and both teams spent half of their the day on the dirt.
“I think the biggest thing is how it affects you mentally,” YSU first baseman Jeremy Banks said. “You start to get tired out there.”
Not only mentally and physically, but the games were emotionally draining for both teams as well.
On the day, YSU twice had big leads and twice watched those advantages disappear as quickly as the Easter Bunny. The Penguins lead 5-0 entering the seventh inning of game one, and 8-2 entering the sixth inning of game two.
Playing with fire for too long, the Penguins got burned in the first game.
A grand slam by pinch-hitter Chris Rutta in the seventh inning tied the game. Banks scored in the bottom of the eighth inning of game one to give the Penguins a one-run lead. But again, the Penguins bullpen could not hold the lead, and surrendered four runs.
The second game was much of the same.
The Flames (7-16) answered a seven-run fourth inning by the Penguins with one of their own in the sixth. But the Penguins scored six combined runs in the seventh and eighth innings and put up the most important Easter egg of the day in the top of the ninth.
Pasquale said it was a “gutsy win” and that the team showed its cohesiveness by not allowing a repeat performance.
“When you’re on the field for 11 hours, it’s mentally draining,” he said. “But this team stays together throughout. It’s easy, when you’re up 8-2 and you lose that lead, to give up. But when you keep coming back, it shows a lot of character from the guys on this team.”
More important than a moral victory, the Penguins won the three-game series 2-1 with a win Friday and in Saturday’s second game. The win kept the Penguins above .500 in the Horizon League (4-2) and kept them at one of the top spots in the conference.
The win, Pasquale said, was crucial.
“Against a team like this, a win like this is huge,” he said. “Yeah, you can say it’s early in the year, but a win like this is just what we need to keep our momentum going.”
Banks agreed, saying, “Staying on top of the Horizon League is one of the things we want to do all season. And being at 4-2 instead of 3-3 is important.”
The game wasn’t the most fundamentally-sound performance. There were six errors, five in the second game, that plated five runs. Four of those errors were against the Flames.
Pasquale said his team will continue to work on and correct those errors. He also added positive reinforcement, and focusing on what went right, is the best way to ensure the mistakes aren’t repeated.
Pasquale also added not to assume the Flames have been snuffed out just yet.
“That’s a good team right there,” he said. “We’ll see them down the road.”