YSU roundup

Track AND FIELD

Grace continues dominating performance

PHILADELPHIA

The Youngstown State track and field teams took part in the second day of the three day Penn Relays Friday at Franklin Field. Senior Bobby Grace had another strong showing this week as he had Youngstown State’s best performance in the second day of the meet, throwing 19.47 meters in the shot put, his second-best effort of the season to finish in second place out of 10 athletes in the event.

Grace has finished in either first or second in the last four meets for the Penguins and in each of those meets he has had his top throws of the 2014 outdoor season. Grace had his best throw of the year last week (19.56) at the Jesse Owens Classic.

Senior John Seaver (17.11) also competed Friday.

Sophomore Nina Grambling was among the 25 competitors in the women’s 100 meter dash. She finished inside the top 15 of the event as she ran a time of 12.16 seconds to finish in the 13th spot.

Competing in the high jump for the Penguins were freshman Arnaldo Morales and sophomore Jay Jakovina. They both made it in the top 10 as Morales had a personal record day jumping 2.04 meters (6-8.25) to finish in eighth place tying Jamaal Petty of Virginia Union. Jakovina finished right behind Morales in tenth place with a jump of 2.00 meters (6-6.75).

BASEBALL

Solberg’s HR, five RBIs power Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE

Senior Ryan Solberg hit one of Milwaukee’s three home runs and drove in five runs in the first four innings as the Panthers beat YSU, 13-3, at Henry Aaron Field.

YSU’s Jake Fryman hit a three-run home run for his first career round tripper in the ninth inning. Five other Penguins had hits.

Milwaukee had just two hits in the first inning, but both of them went for two-out, two-run homers. Penguins starter Brendon Shoemake retired the first two batters of the inning, but a walk to Mitch Ghelfi ignited the Panthers. Solberg homered to left a batter later, and Tyler Hermann followed a Pat Wilson single with a homer to left center.

Ghelfi drove in Derek Peake on a sacrifice fly in the second, and Solberg followed with an RBI single to plate Mike Porcaro. Solberg added a two-run single that plated Peake and Ghelfi in the fourth as Milwaukee went ahead 8-0.

The Penguins and Panthers will play game two of the three-game series at 2 p.m. today.

GOLF

Dixon, Merling in top two spots in Florida

HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla.

The YSU women’s golf team sits in second place after the first round of the Horizon League Championships behind Oakland. YSU’s Emily Dixon leads the event while Aisynn Merling is in second after the opening round.

The Penguins had a first-round score of 312 and are just two shots back of leader Oakland (310). Detroit is in third with a 317, Valparaiso is fourth at 318, Cleveland State fifth with a 324, UIC sixth at 326 and Green Bay is seventh with a 328.

Dixon had an even-par round of 73 in her Horizon League Championships debut. Dixon had 12 pars, three birdies and three bogeys on the day. She birdied No. 3 and No. 7, both par-4 holes, on the front side and had a one-under par 34 after her opening nine holes. After bogeys at No. 10 and No. 11, she rebounded nicely playing the final seven holes one-under par with a birdie on the par-5 13th hole.

Merling, whose previous low Horizon League round was 79, posted a score of 74 on Friday and is one shot behind Dixon. Merling was one-under par on the back nine and two over on the front side. The only non-par on her opening nine holes was a double-bogey at No. 4. After opening the backside with a bogey at 10, she was two-under par with birdies coming at No. 12 and No. 18, both par fives.

Defending Horizon League champion,Allison Mitzel is tied for 15th after an opening round 80.

Emily Rohanna and Mia Barchetti are tied for 29th following opening day 85’s. Rohanna bounced back on her back nine after going nine-over par on the front side. She was just three over-par, and had a birdie on 12, on the back side. Barchetti, making her Horizon League Championships debut, was eight over on the front side before improving to just four over on the back nine.

Pluchinsky’s round of 74 tops Penguin men

HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla.

The YSU men’s golf team carded an opening-round score of 305 at the Horizon League Championships at the Mission Inn Resort. YSU trails leader Cleveland State by five shots and second-place Detroit by two.

After round one, the Penguins have four of their five golfers in the top 15. Brandon Pluchinsky leads the way in fourth place with a 74, D.J. Holub is sixth following a 75, Mark Olbrych and Bryan Yeo are tied for 15th after opening rounds of 78 while Bill Gaffney carded an 80 and sits in a tie for 24th.

Pluchinsky, who carded a 66 last time out at Mission Inn, birdied two of his first six holes. He was four-over par his final 12 holes to card a two-over par round.

Tennis

YSU women sweep Wright State, 4-0

Ann arbor, mich.

The YSU women’s tennis team opened play at the Horizon League Championships with a 4-0 win over Wright State at the University of Michigan Tennis Center. Friday’s match was played indoors because of inclement weather.

The Penguins (12-11) won the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. At No. 1, Marta Burak and Dominika Lackova won 8-4 while at No. 3, Margarita Sadovnikova and Carolyn Jesko picked up an 8-3 victory.

At No. 1, Sadovnikova won 7-6, 6-0; at No. 2, Burak cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory and at Nehel Sahni earned the first postseason win of her career at No. 5 with a 6-2, 6-2 win. The Penguins led at No. 6 (7-5, 4-2), at No. 4 (6-2, 4-2) and at No. 3 (3-6, 6-0, 3-2) when the match was clinched.

Staff reports