YSUsports.com - Penguins Claim Horizon League Tournament Crown, 10-1

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May 30, 2004

Penguins Claim Horizon League Tournament Crown, 10-1

    Niles, Ohio -- Youngstown State jumped out a 9-0 lead and starter Kevin Libeg threw 7.1 strong innings to lift the Penguins to a 10-1 victory over the Cleveland State Vikings in the Horizon League Championship.
    The Penguins won their first ever league tournament championship and will be making their first trip to the Division I NCAA Tournament in the program's 50-year history.
    Sophomore second baseman Justin Banks was 3-for-5 with four RBIs and was named the tournament's most valuable player. He was joined on the all-tournament team by Libeg and fellow pitcher Eric Shaffer.
    The seventh-seeded Penguins went undefeated in the tournament, knocking off the No. 3 Vikings twice, No. 2 Butler and No. 1 Illinois-Chicago en route to the title.
    "Nobody believed in us because we were the seventh seed," head coach Mike Florak said. "But we believed in ourselves and knew we could win it."
    Libeg allowed one run and struck out eight hitters in the first 7 1/3 innings. Mike Hosterman and Paul Yates combined to shut out the Vikings over the final 2 1/3.
    The Penguins took a 1-0 lead in the second when Adam Cox scored on a throwing error by shortstop Ben Smith. YSU added a run in the fourth on a homer by Clint Ford and tacked on two more in the fifth on RBI hits from Banks and Cox to go up 4-0.
    YSU then blew the game open with five two-out runs in the sixth inning with two two-run singles and a balk. Ford, Philllips and Kendall Schlabach hit three straight one-out singles to set up Charles Schultz's two-run single to right center. After Jim Lipinski drew a walk to reload the bases, CSU reliever Matt Kaltenbach was called for a balk to bring home another run. Banks then stepped up and ripped a two-run single through the left side to put the Penguins up 9-0.
    Cleveland State scored it's lone run off Libeg in the sixth when Cory Rojeck hit a liner right back at Libeg to start the inning and scored on a two-out single from Gian Testa.
    The Penguins chalked up one more run in the eighth when Banks singled home Schultz.
    Ford's bomb was his first since March 27, 2001.