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Only cold and snow slows YSU’s hot bats
By JON MOFFETT
NILES
Instead of engaging his teammates from the bench, junior Joe Iacobucci let his teeth do all the chattering for him.
Friday’s baseball game between Youngstown State and Valparaiso was postponed, thanks to a swirling, frozen mist that settled over Eastwood Field. The game was delayed 15 minutes before eventually being rescheduled for Sunday at noon.
Maybe the Crusaders caught a break with the returning snow, because the Penguins’ bats have been on fire recently.
The Penguins (13-12) have had 20 or more hits in three of the past four games. Three of them resulted in victories and two featured 20 or more runs.
“Halfway through the season, you would think that your bats are coming alive a little bit,” said coach Rich Pasquale. “But the guys right now are just trusting their swings, and trusting their hands.”
This ongoing streak is one for the Penguin record books.
Only once before (2006) had the team accumulated 20 or more hits in three games. This year’s version has done so in four games.
On Wednesday, the Penguins put Duquesne on ice with 22 runs on 23 hits.
“We’re just swinging really well and doing our work,” Iacobucci said. “At practice and before games we’ve just been getting a lot of swings, and everyone seems to be doing their part.”
Considering the Penguins had a record of 5-20 at this point last season, it would appear as if Iacobucci’s sentiments are correct.
“The pitchers are doing their part, and our offense is doing our part,” he said. “Everyone is doing the little things, playing small ball, putting hits together, stealing and running. It’s all just coming together.”
Iacobucci is one of nine Penguins hitting .300 or better this season. The team is hitting .327, which leads the Horizon League.
The Penguins (4-2) are sitting comfortably in the second spot in the league, behind only Wright State, which is a perfect 3-0 in conference play.
And while the team was given the rest of Friday off, Pasquale said it wasn’t necessarily a throw-away day.
“I said it three times before they left here today that these are three important games, and you can’t just blow them off,” Pasquale said.
The team will play its regularly-scheduled doubleheader against Valparaiso today. The first game is at noon.