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YSU wins on wild pitch walk-off
Glasser sprints home in 11th as YSU tops Kent State
By BOB ETTINGER
NILES
Phillip Glasser knew his next move and he told Youngstown State baseball coach Dan Bertolini exactly what the plan was.
Just moments later, Glasser emerged triumphantly, bloody lip and all, from a cloud of dust.
Glasser raced home on a wild pitch and slid under a tag giving the Penguins an 11-inning, 4-3 victory over Kent State at Eastwood Field on Wednesday night.
“He was safe,” Bertolini said. “It was a good call. He told me about five seconds before that, on a ball in the dirt, he was going to score. That’s something we work on. He got a good read and he was trying to be aggressive. We were struggling with the bases loaded. If we can score, we’re going to try and score.”
Glasser led off the 11th with a single and Blaze Glenn walked. Both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt from Cody Dennis.
“My high school and summer coaches always preached that, no matter what, if the bases are loaded or if it’s the first at-bat of the game, your approach has to be the same,” Glasser said.
”It’s definitely easy to win the game with one swing. We’re just really disciplined with that. It’s having confidence in the guys behind you to drive you in.”
Drew Dickerson was intentionally walked to load the bases. Several pitches later, Chris Martin’s pitch eluded catcher Kevin Dobos and Glasser took off, sliding in under the tag of Martin for the YSU victory.
“I saw the ball in the dirt,” Glasser said. “I saw it kick and I went. That deep into the game, I was lucky it paid off. I was safe. I got my hand in. It was a close call. He could’ve called anything, but I still think I got my hand in there.”
The Penguins (5-23) loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth, but only recorded a single run on an single by Dickerson. The Golden Flashes (11-15) retired the next 12 YSU hitters and led, 3-2, heading into the home half of the ninth.
“It was a weird day,” Bertolini said. “Maybe it was tough to see, I don’t know. Both teams were doing a good job around the zone. I was impressed with [our] bullpen today. Grant Kersh got his first win today and I’m happy for him. Jon [Snyder] did a great job in the start and gave us an opportunity to win. Give [the Golden Flashes] credit. They have some very good arms. I thought we were swinging the bat well. We had 10 hits.”
Lucas Nasonti broke the hitless string with a lead-off single in the ninth and scored on Glenn’s single to send the game into extra innings.
“We just stuck to our approaches,” said Glasser, who also singled in the ninth. “We didn’t try to do too much. It was one guy at a time.”
Trevor Wiersma plated the Penguins’ first run with a sacrifice fly after the Golden Flashes loaded the bases with walks in the first.
Kent State scored two in the fourth on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly from Josh Hollander. It took the lead, 3-2, on Pete Schuler’s single in the seventh.
Glasser led the Penguins with three hits and Glenn and Nasonti each had two.