43
Penguins lose to Valpo twice
By Jon moffett
NILES
Maybe a snow day was all Valparaiso needed to cool off the Youngstown State baseball team’s offense.
After Fridday’s game was postponed due to inclement weather, the Penguins lost both games of a doubleheader Saturday at Eastwood Field. And the Penguins’ usually potent offense was held to only a combined 10 hits.
“It was just one of those days today,” YSU coach Rich Pasquale said. “Some days you’re hitting, and we’ve been hitting, and the next you’re not. But that’s just baseball.”
The Penguins (13-14, 4-4 Horizon League) had only two hits in the second game, and were shut out for the first time this season.
Much of the credit can be attributed to Valparaiso’s starters. The Crusaders (10-17, 2-0) sent juniors Jon Gulbransen and Bryce Shafer pitched a combined 15 innings and struck out 16 Penguins hitters.
Shafer struck out 13 batters and allowed only two hits and no runs in his eight innings.
“You’ve got to tip your hat to those guys for figuring us out a little bit,” Pasquale said. “[Shafer] is one of the top pitchers in our conference, and he just shut us down today. When you don’t have anybody on base, it’s hard to get anything going.”
The Crusaders scattered the Penguins 10 hits, and allowed just one batter, sophomore Derek Carr, to have two or more hits in either games.
Carr had three hits and scored a run in the first game, but went 0 for 2 in the second game and struck out twice.
The Penguins lost the first game, which went 10 innings, after allowing two Crusaders to score in the final frame. Reliever Jarad Miller retired the side in order to give the Penguins their third conference loss.
In the second game, YSU pitcher Phil Klein’s quality outing was overshadowed by Shafer. Klein allowed four runs on six hits in seven innings. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter, but was in awe of Shafer’s outing.
“He threw a heck of a game out there, and I’m just going to give all the credit to him because of how hot our offense has been,” Klein said of Shafer. “He shut us down ... When you’re throwing without the lead for pretty much the whole game, it’s a completely different perspective.”
The Penguins will play Valparaiso today at 11 a.m. and try to avoid the series sweep. The game is a makeup from Friday’s game, which was canceled after snow fell on Eastwood Field.