YSU roundup

Softball teams loses 2 in S.C.

Spartanburg, S.C.

The Youngstown State softball team dropped a pair of games on day two of the Pepsi Classic hosted by USC-Upstate.

The Penguins (2-11) lost to Radford, 3-1, before a 9-1 five-inning defeat to Furman on Saturday. In the opener, freshman pitcher Maddi Lusk was the hard-luck loser tossing a complete game and allowing just three runs while striking out six.

Cali Mikovich, Brittney Moffatt, Maria Lacatena, Kelly Thompson-Cappadocio and Hannah Lucas each had a hit for YSU.

Against Furman, the Penguins committed four errors and posted just four hits in the 9-1 loss. Lucas went 2-for-2 with a run batted in while Sarah Dowd had a double and scored a run.

Baseball falls at E. Kentucky

Eastern Kentucky opened its remodeled Earle Combs Stadium by scoring the final eight runs and beating the Youngstown State baseball team, 8-3, on Saturday afternoon.

Alex Larivee hit a two-run home run, and Kyle Benyo hit a solo blast in the first inning to give Youngstown State a 3-0 lead. The score remained that way until EKU tied it in the third, and the Colonels went on to score in five straight innings.

YSU finished with 10 hits on the day, and eight of the starting nine had at least one hit. Shane Willoughby and Nico Padovan both had two singles.

Daniel McFarland went 4-for-5 and hit a game-tying two-run single in the third inning to pace EKU.

Willoughby singled with one out in the first, and Larivee followed with his first home run of the season to give the Penguins a quick 2-0 lead.

Bowling remains in sixth before bracket play

The Youngstown State women’s bowling team earned three wins and got a strong individual performance from Alexis Grim for the second straight tournament on Saturday at the Hawk Flight Invite.

The Penguins will enter today’s bracket play in sixth place and will take on Vanderbilt, which is fifth in the tournament and ranked fifth in the Top 25. The Commodores finished one pin ahead of the Penguins in the 10 qualifying matches over Friday and Saturday.

Youngstown State won its first three matches of the day with victories over Duquesne, Caldwell and No. 16 LIU Brooklyn. The Penguins edged Duquesne by five pins, 886-881, and they topped Caldwell 966-932. YSU then beat the 16th-ranked Blackbirds 957-855.

Staff report