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Homers help Valpo beat YSU
By Brandon Judeh
NILES
A pair of three-run homers by Valparaiso helped the Crusaders cruise past the Youngstown State Penguins, 7-4, in a Horizon League baseball series opener on Friday at Eastwood Field.
The first home run came quickly as left-hander John Loeffler hammered his second homer of the season over the right field wall to give Valparaiso the early 4-0 lead.
Penguins (4-28, 2-11 HL) starter Russ Harless settled down and retire the Crusaders (13-19, 7-6) rather easily over the next four innings. A steady diet of fly balls helped him settle in and keep YSU close.
“Harless is a fly ball pitcher and when you have a pitcher like that you’re going to have that,” said YSU coach Rich Pasquale. “He went on a nice little run and retired a lot of batters in a row, he’s doing a very good job.”
But in the end the fly ball is what did in the freshman.
In the sixth inning, after recording a quick out, Harless allowed back-to-back singles that set up a squeeze play for Valparaiso.
After Billy Cribbs’ bunt attempt failed, he did the next best thing.
He homered and no-doubt shot to left field gave the Crusaders a comfortable 7-1 cushion.
Despite giving up two long balls, Harless pitched 72/3 solid innings while throwing 93 pitches.
The early lead did not intimidate the Penguins as they refused to go quietly.
YSU tacked on two runs in the sixth inning when Jason Shirley knocked in a run on a single and Craig Goubeaux picked up an RBI when he reached on a throwing error to cut the lead to 7-3.
Drew Dosch said the one thing that kept the Penguins in the game was Harless’ pitching.
“He did great and the scoreboard doesn’t show that, but he kept us in the game,” said Dosch. “The offense battled back and tried to get one or two runs at a time to get back in the game.”
A key defensive play was made by left-fielder Shirley in the top of the seventh. Shirley saved a run when he made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch to keep YSU close.
Dosch notched an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning, but that would be all for the Penguins.
Despite the loss, there was some good news for the Penguins as Jeremy Banks continues to make his way back from injury. He went 1 for 4 and hammered the ball all four times he was up to bat.
“It feels really good to be back, you never want to have an injury and be out for any length of time, especially during senior year,” Banks said.
“This is the last time I’m ever going to play the game, so I’m glad to be back.”
The Penguins loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth thanks to two singles and a walk, but were unable to capitalize.
Goubeaux had two RBIs for the Penguins and Dosch picked up two hits, raising his batting average to .369 on the year.