Box Score Youngstown -- The Youngstown State baseball
team is hoping to carry the momentum from yesterday's victory to
win its third straight today at Akron at 3 p.m.
Freshman Phil Klein will take the mound for the Penguins, who
posted season-high totals in hits and runs in a 12-4 win over IUP
on Tuesday.
Klein, a 6-7 right-hander, is coming off the best outing of his
young career. In his first start against Xavier on March 13, Klein
allowed one run on four hits in 6.1 innings to earn his first
victory. He also threw a scoreless inning out of the bullpen at
Alabama on March 9.
If the offense is as productive as it was Tuesday, Klein will
get plenty of run support. The Penguins banged out 18 hits,
including seven for extra bases, against the Crimson Hawks to win
its second straight game. YSU also defeated Butler 2-1 on
Saturday.
Redshirt freshman Joe Iacobucci went 4-for-4 with four RBIs in
his first career four-hit game, and Josh Page had four hits and
scored four times. Sophomore Anthony Munoz also hit his first
career home run against IUP.
The Penguins lost two contests against the Zips last season and
have dropped three straight dating back to 2006.
The Zips are coming off a 6-5 setback to Duquesne on Tuesday in
its home opener. The Dukes jumped ahead 5-0 through six innings
before Akron tied the contest with a run in the seventh and four in
the eighth. Duquesne scored the game-winner with a two-out double
in the ninth.
Akron enters today's contest with a record of 10-8 and winners
of five of their last eight. As a team the Zips are batting .303
and average almost 6.4 runs per game.