Iacobucci stays hot, Penguins stay cold

The Vindicator (Youngstown)

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Youngstown State senior Joe Iacobucci is greeted at home plate by teammates after hitting a home run. Iacobucci and the Penguins finally get to play a home game March 22 at Eastwood Field against Penn State Behrend.

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Youngstown State senior Joe Iacobucci

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

STRUTHERS

YSU senior Joe Iacobucci is the type of hitter who lets a batting slump gnaw away at him, but he’s so far resisted the urge to practice his swing in front of a mirror at 2 a.m.

“Not 2 a.m.,” he said, laughing. “Maybe just in the afternoon.”

He started this season batting just .086 through his first 10 games and found himself overthinking at the plate and overanalyzing himself away from it.

Then he calmed down and let his talent take over.

After batting .343 over the previous 10 games, Iacobucci stayed hot on Tuesday, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored in the Penguins’ 10-8 loss to Walsh in their home opener at Cene Park.

“Joe’s feeling it pretty good right now,” Penguins coach Rich Pasquale said. “He’s starting to heat up a little bit and that’s good for us.”

The Penguins (4-17) piled up 16 hits, including three doubles, but fell behind 9-2 midway through the game and played the rest of the contest uphill.

YSU scored a pair of runs in the fifth and eighth innings to cut the deficit to 10-6, then put runners on second and third to start the ninth.

After a sacrifice fly by Craig Goubeaux made it 10-7, Armani Johnson reached on an infield single, only to get thrown out at second on a double steal that plated another run.

Phil Lipari then walked and Padraic Williams singled (his third hit of the game) before Jeremy Banks flied out to end the game.

“I’m proud of them for battling back but I consider it Walsh basically kicking our butt all day,” Pasquale said. “We didn’t do anything. They beat us in all facets of the game: pitching, hitting, defense. We didn’t win any of those facets, to tell you the truth.

“They put pressure on us and did a helluva job.”

Iacobucci’s four singles came one game after his 200th career hit and gave him an eight-game hitting streak. He is one of eight Penguins to reach 200 hits.

“I didn’t even know about it [200 hits] until I got to the dugout,” said Iacobucci, who reached the milestone in Saturday’s series finale against Wright State. “I didn’t realize I was coming up on that.

“It’s a good feeling because not too many people have it, so it’s good to have it under my belt.”

Kendall Schlabach, an outfielder who played from 2001-04, holds the school record with 265 hits. Although that record seems out of reach for Iacobucci — he’d have to average two about hits a game for the rest of the season — the Boardman High graduate should be able to break into the top five. John Koehnlein (2006-09) is fifth with 245 hits.

“I try not to worry about stats,” Iacobucci said. “Stats are just stats to me. They don’t matter.

“I just like to have fun and play baseball.”