Underdog Penguins upset Valparaiso in HL tourney

Staff report

MEQUON, WIS.

Phil Lipari homered and had three of Youngstown State’s 14 hits as the Penguins beat Valparaiso, 7-3, in the first round of the Horizon League Baseball Tournament on Wednesday at Kapco Park.

The sixth-seeded Penguins will advance to play No. 1 Wright State at 8 p.m. today. Valparaiso will play an elimination game against No. 5 Oakland at noon.

Five Penguins pitchers combined to hold the Crusaders to four hits. Starter Jared Wight allowed one run on three hits and three walks in four innings, and the bullpen shook off six walks to preserve the victory.

“I thought our guys were focused and just played loose today,” YSU head coach Steve Gillispie said. “There isn’t as much pressure on you when you’re the underdog. We were able to get guys on base early in innings, and that allowed us to move runners and do some creative things. We also had some big hits that allowed us to extend the lead.”

The Penguins (13-36) scored the first two runs of the game in the fifth. Kevin Hix and Shane Willoughby led off the frame with back-to-back singles, and Lorenzo Arcuri moved them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Lipari then lined a single to center to plate Hix, and Alex Larivee followed with a double that one-hopped the wall in right to score Willoughby.

Valparaiso’s Andy Burns led off the bottom of the fifth with a wind-assisted home run.

The Penguins added to the lead in the top of the seventh. Arcuri ignited the offense with a double to right center, and Lipari’s fifth home run of the season put the Penguins ahead 4-1. Larivee followed with a double to left, and Matt Sullivan doubled him in two batters later to give YSU a four-run cushion.

Kurt Laver doubled in Josh White and Hix in the top of the eighth to put YSU up 7-1.

Valparaiso (23-27) tightened things up by scoring two runs in the eighth, and it left two runners on base in each of the final two innings.

Kevin Yarabinec walked two batters in the ninth, but he got Grant Yoder to line out and Chris Manning to ground out to earn his fifth save. Anthony Konders (1-2) worked two scoreless innings in relief for the win.

Wight, making the first postseason appearance of his career, had his second-longest start of the season, and he had his biggest pitch count since April 4.

“Jared did a good job of staying ahead of hitters and locating his fastball, and, when he does that, he can be very tough to hit,” Gillispie said. “We’ve been working on refining some of his mechanics, and we held him out of some league games down the stretch so teams couldn’t get a comprehensive scouting report on him.”