Wednesday, March 31, 2010
By JON MOFFETT
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown State baseball team is enjoying a start to this season that many players consider the best in a long time.
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YSU baseball coach Rich Pasquale held practice at Eastwood Field on Monday. The Penguins play host to UIC there this weekend.
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Youngstown State’s Aaron Swenson was named Horizon League pitcher of the week.
Maybe more impressive than the Penguins fast start and 10-9 record is that all but two of those games were played on the road.
So as a reward for such a fast start, the Penguins will be treated to a nice, long homestand.
“It’s a great time traveling with these guys because they’re all your buddies, but it’s also nice to get home and get off the road,” said pitcher Aaron Swenson. “The road can take a toll on a team.”
The Penguins will play 20 of the next 22 games at Eastwood Field.
Today’s game against Canisius will be at Cene Park at 3 p.m.
With the majority of April game at home, the Penguins hope for nice weather and good turnout.
“It’s going to be nice to be home for a while,” Swenson said. “We can get some of our fans out to see some games, sleep in our own beds and really enjoy ourselves.”
Senior Anthony Porter, a Boardman native, said it’ll be nice to get back home to, in his case, a home-cooked meal every now and then.
“It’s going to be great,” he said. “You’re not going to be sharing a room with a couple of other guys. You get to sleep in your own bed ... You’re more rested, you’re not eating on the road, worrying about what you’re going to eat next. You try to eat well on the road, but sometimes it gets tough traveling from place to place.”
Regardless of where the team is playing, it is playing well, coach Rich Pasquale said.
“Not only are we getting good pitching, but we’re continuing to hit the ball,” Pasquale said. “At times, you can put too much pressure on a pitching staff when we hit for so many innings and then we’re off.”
Porter said the team is playing its best ball since he’s been on the team. He added that there are specific goals he hopes the team can achieve.
“We were expecting to do big things this year,” Porter said. “We have a veteran pitching staff and a veteran lineup. We only lost a couple players from last year.”
So what about those team goals?
“We’re going into this season expecting to win the league, expecting to win the tournament and hopefully do some big things.”
Porter added he thinks the Penguins can be “elite” and thinks a 30- or 35-win season is not out of the question.
Porter pointed to the work the team put in during the offseason, especially during fall workouts.
Pasquale agreed.
“It’s the work we put in, in the winter, and the fall, and we continue to talk about our offensive plan and our pitching plan,” Pasquale said. “It’s just that constant work.”
Swenson said he’s noticed a little bit of a swagger, and said that showed in the team’s series win against conference rival Butler.
“I feel like everyone on this team thinks we can win any game at any time and there’s not a game we should lose,” he said. “It’s obviously going to happen over the course of the season, but I definitely would say we have a great swagger going on. It’s the times when we might lose a few games in a row that we’re going to have to pull the swagger back out and get back on a winning streak.”
Pasquale said he’s glad the team has such lofty goals because he said it means they have expectations for themselves.
“These guys have good work ethic, and we started that back in August, and that’s what we’re expecting,” he said.
Pasquale added the goal every year is to win the conference and hopes this team can make it happen.
And while Pasquale is more focused on how the team is playing at any venue, he too is looking forward to a long home stand.
“It’ll be nice to wear our white uniforms,” he said with a smile. “But just having a chance to play here and have people [in the stands] will be good.”
SEE ALSO: Swenson named pitcher of the week.