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June 5, 2004
TCU Rallies to End YSU's Postseason Run, 12-8
Austin, Texas -- Youngstown State proved it could
play with the nation's elite in its
two games at the Austin Regional
this weekend, but the Penguins'
season ended Saturday as they fell
12-8 to the TCU Horned Frogs at
Disch-Falk Field.
TCU rallied from a 7-3 deficit and got 5.2 innings of strong
relief from Robbie Findlay to
eliminate the Penguins and end their
most successful postseason run in
school history.
YSU, which won its first ever conference championship and
made its first appearance in the
NCAA Regionals, finishes the season
with a mark of 22-32 and bids
farewell to a group of seven seniors
that have been one of the most
decorated classes to wear red and
white.
"Unfortunately, it did not turn out the way that we would
have liked it to, but I am very
proud of our guys for winning a
conference championship," Head Coach
Mike Florak said. "I am not
going to let today take away from
our season."
TCU advances to play the loser of the Texas and Oral Roberts
game in an elimination bout tonight
at 8 p.m. (EST).
The Frogs led 3-0 through two innings, but YSU scored the
next seven runs over the next three
innings to take a 7-3 advantage.
TCU, however, erupted for six runs
in the sixth inning and tallied
three more in the eighth en route to
victory.
In that fateful sixth, Bo Cogbill hit a one-out single to
plate D.J. Pokluda and Chad Huffman
followed with an RBI double down the
left field line. Clean-up
hitter Austin Adams then ripped a
two-run double down the left field
line to tie the score at seven.
Reliever Mike Hosterman came in and
retired Shelby Ford for the second
out, but Chris Neuman hit a towering
two-run homer to right field to put
the Frogs up 9-7.
Jim Phillips hit his second solo homer of the game in the
seventh to cut the margin to 9-8,
but TCU got three insurance runs in
the eighth for the final tally.
Phillips went 3-for-3 in the contest with two solo home runs
and a double to lead the 13-hit
Penguin attack while Kendall
Schlabach and Brandon Caipen also
had three hits apiece. Neuman
finished with three hits and three
RBIs for the Frogs.
Sophomore lefty Eric Shaffer was tagged with the loss for the
Penguins as he allowed eight runs,
five of which were earned, on nine
hits in 5.1 innings. Findlay
picked up the win for TCU as he
allowed two runs on three hits in
5.2 innings of relief.
YSU threatened to take an early lead in the first but were
turned away scoreless.
Schlabach led off the inning with a
single up the middle but was tagged
out trying to steal second.
Caipen restarted the offense as he
drew a one-out walk and advanced to
third on a throwing error by TCU
starter Chase Perry. Charles
Schultz then hit a fly ball to right
that appeared to be a successful
sacrifice fly, but Caipen was
doubled up for leaving third early
on an appeal to end the inning.
The Horned Frogs capitalized on the momentum shift as they
scored three runs in the top of the
second. Austin Adams hit a
leadoff double, moved to third on a
single and scored on a single by
Chris Neuman. Shaffer retired
the next two hitters on a pop fly
and a strikeout, but Ford scored on
a double steal as he knocked the
ball loose from catcher Adam Cox at
the plate. TCU then upped its
advantage to 3-0 as Neuman scored
when Phillips couldn't handle a
grounder at third off the bat of
J.J. Estrada.
YSU rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the third with
three runs on four hits and a walk.
Phillips led off the inning with a
solo homer to left field, his second
of the season, to cut the margin to
two. Caipen and Schultz then
hit back-to-back one-out singles and
Jim Lipinski walked to load the
bases. TCU reliever Andrew
Allar got Justin Banks to fly out to
shallow center for the second out,
Adam Cox ripped a two-run single
through the left side to knot the
score 3-3.
The Penguins then took a 6-3 advantage in the fourth when
Schlabach, Caipen and Jim Lipinski
hit RBI singles. Caipen then
gave YSU its largest lead of the day
at 7-3 with a two-out RBI single up
the middle to plate Phillips in the
fifth.
But Findlay held the Penguin offense, which banged out 12
hits through five innings, to just
one hit the rest of the way to give
the Horned Frogs a chance to rally. |
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