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Wright State’s Hoelzel wins again in return to Eastwood
By Steve Wilaj
NILES
Maybe it’s the familiar mound. Maybe it’s the friends and family in the stands. It might just be the home-cooked meal that being back in town allows him to have.
Whatever the case – as was proven for the third straight season – there’s no place like home for Wright State senior Joey Hoelzel.
The 2010 Canfield graduate pitched eight innings, allowing just one earned run and five hits while striking out nine, in the Raiders’ 5-1 victory over Youngstown State on Saturday at Eastwood Field.
The former Cardinal is 3-0 and has allowed just three runs in 202/3 innings in his collegiate career at Eastwood.
“It’s good to come back. I played a lot here in high school,” Hoelzel said. “It’s always good to play against the hometown team and be back.”
During his sophomore season in 2012, Hoelzel pitched 42/3 innings out of the bullpen to earn a win against YSU. Last season he pitched eight innings against the Penguins in collecting a victory.
Hoelzel (4-2) cruised through much of Saturday’s gamet, allowing his only run in the sixth inning. He threw 109 pitches and walked only one batter.
“I was just throwing strikes — getting ahead,” Hoelzel said. “That was really working. Coach called a great game today and the defense played tremendous behind me. All I really had to do was throw strikes and execute the game plan.”
YSU (3-16, 0-2 Horizon League) left seven runners on base while collecting just six hits. Alex Larivee had two of them and Joe King drove home the lone run with a sacrifice fly.
“We obviously faced a pretty good arm,” Penguins coach Steve Gillispie. “He’s been good in and out of the league for them and his numbers are impressive.
“But I think we’re battling a lack of confidence right now. Things tend to pile up on you when you’re not winning, but it’s something we have to turn around. We just haven’t been good with runners in scoring position and that’s got to change.”
YSU also struggled at the plate in Friday’s 4-2 loss to WSU. But for the second straight game, the Penguins received solid pitching — minus one inning.
The Raiders (14-11, 8-0) scored three first-inning runs off YSU starter Brendon Shoemake (0-3). The uprising was highlighted by a two-run single from catcher Sean Murphy, who finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
“[Shoemake] wasn’t bad but we have to get the game going under control like we did yesterday,” Gillispie said. “We walked two in the first inning today and obviously you can’t be giving away bases. But Swit was fantastic.”
Shoemake exited after four innings and was replaced by Ursuline grad Robert Switka. The senior pitched five scoreless innings and struck out four.
“I was just mixing up locations, keeping them off-balance and making quality pitches,” Switka said. “So I got the outs we needed and kept us in the game. Unfortunately we weren’t able to fight all the way back.”