YSU baseball wins tourney opener

Staff report

chicago

Youngstown State’s first six batters combined for 11 hits and the Penguins scored six runs in the final four innings to beat Milwaukee 8-4 in the first round of the Horizon League baseball tournament on Wednesday at Les Miller Field.

Drew Dosch and Jeremy Banks combined for five RBIs for the Penguins, who play top-seeded Valparaiso today at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Banks finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs, and Dosch had three RBIs and scored twice. Phil Lipari and Jason Shirley also posted two hits for YSU, which outhit Milwaukee 12-9.

Dosch doubled in Lipari and scored on Banks’ single to center in the first to put the Penguins up 2-0. They managed just two more hits over the next four innings, but Harless was able to limit the damage to keep the Penguins within striking distance.

Russ Harless allowed three runs in six innings to earn his third victory. Kevin McCulloh allowed a run in two innings, and Nic Manuppelli retired the Panthers in order in the ninth.

“Russ was able to minimize the damage in the third inning, and that showed a lot of maturity,” YSU coach Rich Pasquale said. “He worked quickly and threw strikes and just battled out there. He did a tremendous job, especially for being just a freshman.

“We stayed away from allowing a big inning, and that’s something we’ve struggled with this year.”

Milwaukee led 3-2 in the fourth inning, but YSU scored three runs in the sixth inning, with Dosch’s driving in two with a triple. Kevin Hix then walked and scored on a two-out error in the seventh, and Marcus Heath drew a leadoff walk in the eighth and scored on Hix’s two-out single that put YSU up 7-3.

Lipari jumped and was fully extended to snag a liner in the bottom of the seventh to save a run.

“Phil and David did a good job of getting on to set the table for Drew and Jeremy all afternoon,” Pasquale said. “Then Drew and Jeremy were able to come up with some big hits.”