New YSU baseball coach looking for a turnaround

YOUNGSTOWN

In 2002, when Steve Gillispie was hired as an assistant baseball coach at Jacksonville (Ala.) State, he was faced with reviving a program that had gone 11-39 the year before.

Only six of those wins had come against Division I teams. Only three had come against conference teams.

“[There was] a team batting average of .219 and a team GPA lower than that,” he said. “So, when you look at the comparison to those two programs, I think the current condition of the Youngstown State program far exceeds what was at Jacksonville State.”

Gillispie was introduced as the Penguins’ new baseball coach on Wednesday and his biggest challenge is reversing the fortunes of a program that went 11-44 last year and 14-41 in 2011.

“You look past some of the recent years and maybe you have to look a little bit deeper,” he said. “You can look back not too many years before you find a conference championship and a trip to the NCAA regionals.”

For more details, read Thursday's Vindicator or visit Vindy.com.