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March 28, 2002
Penguins Drop Hard-Fought 8-7 Decision at Miami
(Ohio)
Oxford, Ohio -- In a darkness shortened contest the
Miami baseball team crept past
visiting Youngstown State (6-8) 8-7
at McKie Field at Hayden Park on
Thursday afternoon. The 3-hour,
15-minute contest featured five lead
changes, three ties and 10 errors.
With one out on the eighth, the Penguins failed to turn the
double play on Ryan Edginton's
ground ball, scoring Mike Galloway
to give Miami the 8-7 victory. Both
teams attempted to start the ninth
inning but the night sky kept the
game from going the full nine
innings.
The Penquins didn't take long to score as leadoff batter Ty
Furino launched a sophomore Justin
Farina pitch off the scoreboard in
left-center field, giving his team
an early 1-0 advantage. The
round-tripper was the first ball to
be hit off the new scoreboard in
left field at Miami's new McKie
Field.
In the bottom half of the first inning, junior Mike Galloway
came to the plate with men on first
and second, and unconventionally
drove both men home to give the
RedHawks a 2-1 lead. Galloway
reached when the first baseman
failed to catch the throw, and the
ball continued into right field. He
advanced to second when Youngstown
State's right fielder fumbled the
ball, resulting in two errors on the
same play.
Youngstown State knotted the game at 2-2 in the second inning
when Mark Nightingale got to first
after a throwing error to lead off
the frame. Nightingale continued to
second on ground out and was
directed to home plate on a James
Swearengen single up the middle.
Miami took its second lead of the
contest 3-2 when sophomore Ryan
Edginton belted his second home run
of the season in the bottom half of
the frame.
In the third inning the Penguins took a 4-3 edge with two
runs off Farina. A lead off double
to right field was shortlived when
Adam Cox attempted to lay down a
bunt that freshman first baseman
Paul Frietch fielded and threw to
third to catch the lead runner.
Momentarily out of trouble, Farina
walked the next batter and then
allowed Clint Ford to slap a single
up the middle to score Cox from
second. Three batters later, after a
fielder's choice and an error on the
second baseman, Jim Phillips drew a
base on balls with the bases juiced
to score Jim Lipinski.
Junior Adam Keel entered the game in relief in the fourth
inning, and held the Penguins
scoreless for the next two innings
to allow Miami a chance at tying the
game in the fifth stanza. Freshman
John Slone opened the bottom half of
the fifth with a single, and
advanced to second base on a
throwing error by the Penquins'
catcher. Slone continued his romp
around the diamond advancing to
third on a wild pitch, and scored
Miami's fourth run on a Galloway
sacrifice fly out to center field.
Youngstown State quickly regained the lead in the sixth
inning when it scarred Keel for one
run, and another score in the
seventh frame. Fortunately for the
Miami faithful, the RedHawks weren't
finished swinging the aluminum as
they tallied two runs in the bottom
of the seventh to knot the game once
again, this time at six apiece.
With darkness quickly setting in Miami coach Tracy Smith sent
in senior reliever Shawn Landis in
the eighth inning. Kendall Schlabach
ripped Landis' third pitch to deep
left-center field to open the frame
with a lead-off double. Schlabach
moved to third on successful
sacrifice bunt and scored the
go-ahead run when Lipinski singled
to right-center field.
Facing an 7-6 deficit in the bottom of the eighth and
darkness quickly creeping over the
field, the RedHawks put together a
two-run rally to clinch the victory
8-7. For the second time in the
contest, Slone led off with a
single, followed this time by a
Galloway walk. Junior Michael Carlin
laid down the sacrifice bunt to
advance both runners, bringing
junior David Cook to the plate. The
Penguins intentionally walked
Cook to load the bases and switched
pitchers, shifting Ford from third
base to the mound. Junior Andi
Scheidt took advantage of his only
plate appearance by drawing the base
on balls to score the game-tying
run, Slone from third base. With one
out on the ticker, the Penguins
failed to turn the double play on
Edginton's ground play, scoring
Galloway to give Miami the 8-7
victory.
Both teams attempted to start the ninth inning but the night
sky kept the game from going the
full nine innings. One day after
picking up his first save of the
season, Landis worked the eighth
inning to earn his first victory of
the season. Credited with the loss
for Youngstown State was Mike
Abdalla after giving up two earned
runs in 0.2 innings.
The Penguins are next in action on Tuesday, April 2 when they
play at Akron. YSU was supposed to
play a doubleheader at IPFW on
Friday and had games against
Valparaiso and IPFW scheduled for
Saturday but those contests have
been canceled because of poor field
conditions in Fort Wayne. |
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