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Penguins fall to UIC, 4-1
STAFF report
Gary, Ind.
Youngstown State’s baseball season came to an end on Friday with the Penguins’ 4-1 loss to UIC in the Horizon League tournament.
Despite the loss, the Penguins (22-34) set school records for runs, home runs, hits and RBIs.
They outhit the Flames on Friday, 8-6, but were held to just one hit over the final four innings.
YSU opened the scoring in the third inning with two hits and a walk. Padraic Williams walked to start the inning and Eric Hymel sacrificed him to second. Tom Clayton reached on an infield single to put runners at first and third with two outs, and Joe Iacobucci brought in the run with a single to right.
That was all the offense YSU was able to muster against UIC starter Eric Wyman and two relievers.
After YSU starter Blake Aquadro retired the first seven batters, the next six batters all reached base in the third as the Flames took a 2-1 lead. Andy Leonard reached on a bloop single to right, and he went to third when Ty Rubio hit a soft single through the right side on a hit-and-run play. Leonard then scored when Rubio got caught in a rundown trying to steal. Steve McGuiggan walked and scored on Jason Ganek’s double, and UIC had the bases loaded with two outs when Kevin McCulloh came on to strike out Horizon League home run leader Chris Rutta.
The Penguins had three singles in the fifth but were unable to get any runs across. Porter led off with a single to left, and he went to second on Williams’ sacrifice. Porter was hit trying to advance to third on Hymel’s single, and Healey followed with his second single of the game to left. Wyman, though, was able to get Clayton to ground out to second to end the inning.
The Flames added two insurance runs in the seventh, both of which were unearned.
Wyman threw a season-long six innings, improving to 2-5, and Jason Ganek came on for the final two outs to earn his first save. Aquadro dropped to 2-6 with the loss.
Leonard went 3-for-4 for UIC, and Healey had two hits for Youngstown State.