May 28, 2004

Shaffer, Big Inning Push Penguins Past Vikings, 7-2

    Niles, Ohio -- Sophomore Eric Shaffer pitched eight strong innings and the Youngstown State offense scored six runs in the top of the second inning to lead the Penguins to a 7-2 victory over Cleveland State on Friday in action at the Horizon League Championships at Eastwood Field.
    YSU (20-30) now advances to play top-seed UIC on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in a winners-bracket game. The winner of that contest moves on to the title game on Sunday and must lose twice to be eliminated from the tournament.
    Shaffer, who improved to 2-4 on the season with the victory, struck out five, while allowing just four hits and three walks. CSU's Matt Kaltenbach (4-8) took the loss pitching a complete game. He struck out eight while walking none, but allowed seven runs, four of which were earned.
    In the second inning, Youngstown State built a six-run advantage as it sent nine men to the plate. The Penguins banged out five hits and capitalized on two Viking errors. Justin Banks put YSU on the board on a chopper over Dominic Erney at third to plate Cox from second and Brent Parks reached on an infield single to load the bases. Kendall Schlabach then hit a two-out single to right center to score Banks and Kyle Penrod and Parks came around to score when Erney couldn't handle a Caipen grounder. Schlabach and Caipen scored on a throwing error by shortstop Ben Smith to cap the scoring.
    The Vikings scratched out a run in the fourth pulling within 6-1. The Penguins added a run in the top of the seventh to build the lead back up to six. Schlabach led off the inning with a single, moved up to second on a sacrifice by Caipen and scored on a single by Jim Lipinski with two outs.
    For the contest, Lipinski had three hits to lead a 10-hit Penguin effort. All 10 of YSU's hits were singles.
    CSU's biggest threat against Shaffer came in the opening inning. The Vikings loaded the bases with one out on a leadoff single, a hit batsman and a walk, but Shaffer struck out Marc Sikora and got Gary Ball to ground out to end the inning.
    Cleveland State (17-32) plays the winner of the Butler-Detroit contest (2:30 p.m. today) later this evening at 6:30 p.m.