Penguins drop one-run decision to UMW

Niles

The Youngstown State baseball team dropped a one-run decision to Milwaukee on Friday at Eastwood Field.

It was the second straight game the Penguins lost 5-4.

More than 3,000 area students attended the contest as part of the annual Kids Day Game presented by Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley.

The Panthers struck first with two runs on the top of the third inning before the Penguins took their only lead with three in the fourth.

The lead changed hands again when Milwaukee plated two in the fifth, and YSU tied it by scoring once in the sixth. The Panthers scored an unearned run in the seventh to grab the lead for good.

Blaze Glenn and Steven D’Eusanio both had a pair of hits, and Jeff Wehler registered two RBIs to lead the Penguins offensively.

Wehler increased his RBI total for the week to nine, and he also became just the second player in program history to steal 30 bases in a season. Coming into the day, only 17 players in the country had stolen at least 30 bases in 2019.

Mike Ferri was 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs for Milwaukee.

YSU starter Travis Perry pitched the first five innings and allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out three batters in a no-decision. Gary Clift Jr. pitched a shutout sixth inning but was charged with the unearned run in the seventh that proved to be the difference.

Perry picked off a Milwaukee baserunner at first base in each of the first two innings, and he has now picked off three runners this season.

Only eight other Penguins have picked off at least three runners in a season since 2000. The last YSU pitcher to pick off two runners in a game was Collin Floyd on May 19, 2017, on Kids Day against Rider.

Perry walked Mitchell Buban and Matt Quartel, the bottom two batters in Milwaukee’s order, to start the top of the third, and both of them scored.

Devin Rybacki followed the two walks with a single to load the bases with nobody out, and Buban scored from third on a wild pitch. Quartel then beat a throw to the plate on a ground out to third when he waited for Blaze Glenn to throw to first to put the Panthers up 2-0.

YSU had just one baserunner — Glenn on a two-out single in the first — through the first three innings before it had four hits and a walk as it scored three runs in the fourth.

Phillip Glasser and Glenn hit back-to-back singles to start the inning, and Wehler followed with a two-run double to right center that tied the game. Wehler then stole third for his 30th steal of the season, and he scored the go-ahead run when he came in on a 6-4-3 double play.

Milwaukee starter Mike Edwards allowed just one hit over the first three innings, and he had retired seven straight batters before YSU’s three-run rally in the fourth.

The Penguin lead was short-lived as Milwaukee went back on top three batters into the top of the fifth. Quartel led off with double to right, and Ferri’s second home run of the season put the Panthers up 4-3.

YSU got a runner in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom of the fifth when Web Charles drew a leadoff walk and reached second on a failed pickoff attempt. However, UWM reliever Matt Vanek picked off Charles at second base to kill a potential rally.

Another stolen base helped the Penguins tie the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth. Staff report