The Youngstown State baseball team will start the final stretch
of the regular season with a three-game Horizon League series
against UIC. The series starts with a special Kids Day game on
Friday at 11 a.m. where more than 3,500 students from local schools
and organizations will be in attendance. Saturday's game will
be at 2 p.m., and Sunday's finale will start at noon.
The Penguins, who did not have any midweek games scheduled this
week due to final exams, have nothing but home games remaining in
the regular season. YSU, which has played just eight of its first
41 games at the friendly confines of Eastwood Field, has seven home
games scheduled in a nine-day span leading up to the Horizon League
Tournament. Youngstown State went 4-2 at home in April with a
series win over Oakland and quality victories over Pittsburgh and
Kent State.
Youngstown State won 5-4 at Kent State last Wednesday for their
second triumph over the Golden Flashes in the month. The Penguins
beat Kent State twice in the same season for the first time since
1979. YSU then dropped two slugfests and a 7-3 decision at Wright
State over the weekend. The Penguins hit four home runs and had its
best offensive series in league play against the conference's
top pitching staff. Eight players who started at least two of the
three games hit at least .300, and four different players hit home
runs.
Freshman outfielder Alex Larivee is batting a team-best .321
with a .394 on-base percentage, and senior second baseman Phil
Lipari's average is up to .270 after hitting .500 last week.
Lipari leads the club in runs scored and is tied for the lead with
Matt Sullivan in home runs. Sullivan has a team-best 25 RBIs,
including 11 in the last six games, and he's hit .305 since
March 26.
Sophomore left-hander Jared Wight is slated to make his first
conference start of the season on Friday against the Flames.
He's scheduled to be followed by senior right-handers Nic
Manuppelli and Patrick O'Brien.
Scouting UIC: UIC enters this week as winners
of eight straight games and records of 22-19 overall and 12-7 in
Horizon League play. The Flames are second in the conference
standings behind Wright State, which has already clinched the
regular-season title. UIC leads the conference in most major
offensive categories, including batting average, on-base
percentage, slugging percentage, runs and home runs. Alex
Jurich owns the top individual batting average in the league at
.367, and he's also tops in RBIs and runs scored. Jeff Boehm
leads the conference in home runs in slugging percentage. UIC swept
the Penguins in Chicago in the first conference series in
April.
