sAREA COLLEGE roundup

YOUNGSTOWN STATE

Baseball sweeps UIC, ties for first-place

NILES

Collin Floyd struck out 10 batters in game one, and Colin Clark came in to induce a game-ending double play with the bases loaded in the nightcap as the Youngstown State baseball team completed a sweep of UIC on Saturday at Eastwood Field. The Penguins won game one 7-2, and they jumped out to a six-run lead in game two and held on to win 6-5.

Saturday’s doubleheader sweep followed a 3-1 YSU victory on Friday. The Penguins have now won six of their last seven games – including four straight – and are tied for first place in the Horizon League standings with a 6-3 conference mark. Youngstown State also earned its first three-game sweep of a Horizon League series since 2012.

Jeff Wehler was 4-for-8 with four RBIs in the doubleheader, and Drew Dickerson had three hits, drove in three runs and scored twice.

Floyd earned his third straight conference victory in Saturday’s opener, allowing two unearned runs on four hits and just one walk. His defense committed five errors behind him, which upped his pitch count and forced him to leave after six innings. The Penguins had scored two runs in three straight innings to give him a 7-2 lead when he handed the ball to the bullpen.

Floyd got an early 1-0 lead when Trey Bridis led off with a walk and advanced on a walk to Wehler. Each runner moved up a base on a passed ball before a UIC error on a ground ball hit by Dickerson allowed Bridis to score.

UIC scored the next two runs to go up 2-1. Bowen Ogata reached on a fielding error with one out in the top of the second and Thomas Norton doubled to left center to put runners at second and third. Dylan Gilbert then reached on an error as well, allowing Ogata to score and tie the tie the game at 1-1. In the third, David Becker reached on an error to start the inning and was driven home on a double to right center by Joshua Figueroa.

The Penguins answered right back in the bottom of the third as Blaze Glenn walked with one out and scored on a double to deep center field by Dickerson. Dickerson stole third and scored on sacrifice fly from Andrew Kendrick to put YSU back in front 3-2.

Dalton Earich tossed two scoreless innings in relief of Floyd, and Austin Butler came on in the ninth.

Floyd struck out 10 batters, just one shy of his career high. He recorded a strikeout in each of his six innings on the mound and fanned at least two batters in three different frames.

Youngstown State jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings in game two, but it had to fight late to finish the sweep of the Flames.

In the dramatic ninth, Ogata and Dominic Smith started the inning by walking on full counts to put the tying run on base. They moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt, and Dee was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Riley Hebert then walked to bring in a run, and Clark was called on to get out of the jam. The freshman left-hander got a ground ball up the middle from Ryan Lin-Peistrup, and Dennis fielded it at short, stepped on second and threw on to Wehler at first to end the game.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE

Softball shuts out Detroit Mercy

YOUNGSTOWN

Junior Paige Geanangel tossed a five-hit, complete-game shutout and junior Lexi Zappitelli went 3-for-3 with four RBIs to lead the Youngstown State softball team to an 8-0 victory over Detroit Mercy on Saturday afternoon at the Covelli Sports Complex.

The Penguins improve to 11-17 overall and 2-4 in the Horizon League while the Titans fall to 8-19 overall and 3-3 in the league.

Akron

Women’s golf take 2nd as Pikunas takes 15th

RICHMOND, KY.

Boardman graduate Jacinta Pikunas shot a 77 on Saturday to finish the Colonel Classic in 15th place. In team play, the Zips took fourth with a score of 597, while Eastern Kentucky and Xavier tied for first at 595.

VALPARAISO

Men’s tennis blanks Oral Roberts

Griffith, IND.

The Crusaders swept a Summit League program for the first time.

Poland graduate Garrett Gardner teamed up with Kweisi Kenyatte to beat Oral Roberts’ Jan Pehnec and Kenneth Boykin, 6-4. In singles play, Garnder defeated Eddy Leardini, 6-3, 6-2.

The wins were his 67th in doubles and 70th in singles, putting himself in fifth place in program history in both categories.

OHIO STATE

Baseball beats Nebraska

COLUMBUS

The Ohio State baseball team evened the series against Nebraska Saturday afternoon with a 7-4 victory at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 18-8 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten play, while the Huskers drop to 14-13 overall and 2-3 in conference action. Right-handed starting pitcher Ryan Feltner fanned six over six innings to improve to 3-1, while right-handed reliever Seth Kinker picked up his fifth save of the year, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Jacob Barnwell had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI and Noah McGowan also had three hits with a double and RBI.

WESTMINSTER COLLEGE

Men’s lacrosse falls to Transylvania

NEW WILMINGTON, PA.

The Westminster College men’s lacrosse team fell to Ohio River Lacrosse Conference (ORLC) opponent Transylvania University, 21-5, at home on Saturday afternoon.

Transylvania (5-5, 4-1 ORLC), the defending conference champion, scored first within the first minute of the first quarter (1-0). The Pioneers’ Kayd Aquino added another goal at the 11:25 mark to make the score 2-0. Westminster (4-3, 2-1 ORLC) got on the board when senior Raymond Shalvoy (Rochester, NY / East Rochester) registered a goal at the 8:17 mark in the first, cutting the Pioneer lead, 2-1. Transylvania pulled away after it went on a 6-0 run and ended the quarter leading 8-1. Shalvoy scored his second goal of the game at the 3:13 mark in the second quarter to make the score 9-2. Transylvania led, 10-2, at halftime. The Pioneers outscored the Titans 6-3 in the third quarter and 5-0 in the fourth.

GENEVA COLLEGE

Baseball splits with Westminster

Westminster, PA.

The Geneva College baseball team’s winning streak increased by one more game on Saturday, up to twelve games, when it defeated Westminster, 11-6, in the opening game of a doubleheader, before a huge late comeback attempt fell just short as Geneva fell in game two to end the streak, 11-10. Despite the loss, the Golden Tornadoes now boast an impressive 14-3 overall record, 3-1 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC), while Westminster now stands at 7-6, 2-2 in the PAC.

In the first game, Geneva jumped on Westminster early, scoring three runs in the top of the second on an RBI single from junior Dillon Taggart and a 2-RBI double from senior Tyler Pagaduan.

From there Geneva continued to add on runs, keeping the host Titans at arm’s length. Geneva and Westminster matched runs over the next five innings, with both teams scoring one run in the third, two in the fifth, and one in the seventh, before Geneva put the game away with four runs in the top of the eighth.

In the second game, Geneva jumped ahead early again by scoring two runs in the first inning on RBIs from Luciana and Wieland. From there little went right for senior starting pitcher Richie Rowe, as Westminster scored nine runs over the next three innings. Westminster added two more in the fifth to go up 11-2.

That’s where the game stood heading into the ninth when Geneva tried to put together one of the most improbable comebacks in Geneva College history. The Golden Tornadoes managed to score eight runs and had the bases loaded with two outs before Westminster struck out the final batter, ending the game and the winning streak.

Staff reports