43
Penguins’ season ends with ouster from HL tournament
By JOE CATULLO JR.
NILES
After Wednesday’s loss to Wright State, Youngstown State coach Steve Gillispie said his Penguins needed to play smart baseball to stay alive in the Horizon League Tournament.
Through four innings against UIC on Friday, YSU committed one error that was not capitalized upon and Blake Aquadro was throwing a two-hit shutout and the offense scored five runs.
“I was hitting my spots and fooled some people,” Aquadro said. “Coach was calling a good game for me.”
Then Aquadro hit Joe Betcher to begin the bottom of the fifth inning and the game took a turn for the worse in YSU’s 15-5 defeat.
“When you lose command of a pitch, it’s an advantage to a hitter because it’s one less thing to worry about,” Gillispie said. “If you lose command of a part of the plate, it lets them dial in on a certain part of the strike zone.”
Aquadro loaded the bases with nobody out and almost escaped with minimal damage. With YSU (14-43) leading 5-1, Ryan Boss hit a sinking liner to center field. Mike Accardi made a diving attempt, but did not come up with the ball.
Instead the ball trickled away, and Boss wound up with a two-out, two-run triple and then scored on Alex De LaRosa’s single.
“I threw a good pitch and [Boss] just hit it hard,” Aquadro said. “[Accardi] was just trying to make a play and you can’t fault him for that.”
Things got worse for YSU in the sixth inning. After UIC (27-27) tied the game at 5, Tyler Detmer hit a grounder to shortstop Phil Lipari with two outs. Lipari scooped the ball but rushed his throw and threw it wide of Marcus Heath at first base. Two runs scored, and the Flames led, 7-5, heading into the seventh inning.
Lipari also committed an error in the first inning, giving him four overall in the tournament.
UIC added six runs on three hits and two errors in the seventh inning.
“It’s not a close score, and it shouldn’t be because we didn’t play the type of baseball that keeps you in games and championship tournaments,” Gillispie said.
Aquadro (3-10) pitched 52/3 innings in his final appearance as a Penguin. He allowed seven runs (five earned) on nine hits and struck out three.
Devin Higgins, YSU’s No. 9 hitter on Friday, paced the offense with three hits and three RBIs. Lipari singled, walked and had two RBIs.
YSU concluded its season three wins better than last year under former coach Rich Pasquale and were 8-16 in the conference as opposed to 7-23 in 2012.
“There’s an awful lot of positives to look at,” Gillispie said. “As disappointing as this is, it’s still a good start for us. I’m not discouraged, even though I am disappointed. Maybe we can move forward in bigger steps faster. There’s no doubt in my mind that Youngstown State will challenge for championships here in the near future.”