May 29, 2004

Cox's Sacrifice Fly Sends YSU to Championship Game

    Niles, Ohio -- Youngstown State senior Adam Cox hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth to bring in the eventual winning run as the Penguins defeated the top-seeded Illinois-Chicago Flames 5-4 in the winner's bracket final of the Horizon League Championship Saturday afternoon at Eastwood Field.
    With the win, the Penguins advance to the title game Sunday at 12:30 p.m. against the Cleveland State Vikings, who eliminated the Flames with a 12-8 victory later Saturday.
    The Penguins led 3-0 and 4-2 before the Flames rallied with a run in the seventh and another in the eighth to put the game into a 4-4 deadlock heading into the ninth.
    Charles Schultz reached on an error by shortstop Jordan DeVoir to lead off the decisive ninth and advanced when he beat out a throw to second on Jim Lipinski's sacrifice bunt.  Justin Banks then moved the runners over on a sacrifice bunt and Cox hit a liner to center to bring home Schultz for the go ahead run.
    J.P. Moran reached on an error to lead off the bottom half of the ninth, but he interfered with Schultz's attempt to turn a double play at second on Nelson Gord's bunt as he slid into the shortstop, resulting in two outs.  Freshman reliever Andy Svitak then retired Bryan Russo on a grounder to Jim Phillips at third to pick up his fourth win.
    Banks had three hits to lead the 10-hit Penguin attack while Kendall Schlabach chipped in with two.  Banks and Cox had two RBIs apiece while Schultz scored twice.  Chris Dennis went the first five innings for the Penguins, allowing two runs on two hits and 11 walks and Svitak allowed one run on two hits while striking out three over the final three innings.
    David Haehnel was tagged with the loss for the Flames as he allowed one run in one inning of relief.  Tom Szalewski allowed three runs on five hits over the first four innings while Charlie Hahn allowed one run in four innings.
    The Flames stranded 16 runners in the contest, including leaving the bases loaded twice, while YSU stranded 12 as the teams combined to tie the Horizon League Championship record for combined runners left on base with 28.
    The Penguins jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage with three runs in the top of the first off of Szalewski.  After Schultz reached on a fielder's choice and Lipinski was hit by a pitch, Banks, Cox and Brian Boone followed with three straight two-out RBI singles to put YSU up three.
    The Flames left two runners on in each of the first two innings before they scratched a run in the third when DeVoir singled home Mike Hughes.  They added another run in the sixth when Hughes walked with the bases loaded and no outs, but Frank Santore came on to retire the next three hitters to keep the margin at two.  With one out, Phillips made a diving stop at third and nailed Nelson Gord at the plate and Brad Ryan flied out to end the inning
    YSU upped its advantage to 4-2 in the seventh when Banks singled home Brandon Caipen.  The Penguins had a chance to add to the lead, but Hahn got Cox to fly out and Boone to line out to end the inning.
    UIC got a run in the seventh when Shane Crowder scored on a wild pitch and added another when Crowder singled home DeVoir in the eighth.  The Flames had a chance to tack on a few more runs in the seventh as they  had runners on second and third with one out, but they fell victim to a failed squeeze bunt and Schlabach made a sliding grab in deep left center for the final out.