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May 21, 2005
Parks' Sacrifice Fly Clinches Doubleheader Sweep,
First-Round Bye
Niles, Ohio --
Brent Parks hit a sacrifice fly in
the sixth to tie the score and added
another in the eighth to give
Youngstown State a doubleheader
sweep of UW-Milwaukee and a
first-round bye in next week's
Horizon League Tournament.
Parks capped a four-run comeback in YSU's 5-4 win in game two
while sophomore Andy Svitak threw a
two-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory in
game one.
With the win, the Penguins (28-24 overall, 10-5 Horizon
League) clinched second-place in the
final Horizon League standings -
their best finish in four years in
the league. UW-Milwaukee (21-29,
11-8) will finish third in the
league standings and will play
Wright State in the first round of
the tournament on Wednesday. YSU
will play its first game on Thursday
at 4 p.m. EST.
Svitak threw his first career shutout and struck out a
career-high eight hitters in leading
YSU to a 1-0 victory. The righty did
not allow a hit until there was one
out in the fifth, and UWM's only two
hits were bloop singles to left. The
Panthers did not get a runner past
first base in the game.
The Penguins got the only run they needed in the first inning
when Justin Banks singled home
Brandon Caipen for an unearned run.
Caipen hit a one-out single to left
and advanced to third when first
baseman Ross McCoy mishandled an
Erich Diedrich grounder. Banks then
stepped up and ripped the first
pitch up the middle to bring in
Caipen for the game's only run.
UW-Milwaukee got the leadoff runner on in the seventh when
Joe Nowicki singled, but Svitak
induced three-straight flyouts to
center to end the game.
Rick Cavaini allowed only four hits in six innings and struck
out four in a losing effort in game
one.
In game two, the Panthers got two runs on two hits off YSU
starter Eric Shaffer as Rob Brockel
hit a sacrifice fly and Jesse Hart
hit an RBI single.
YSU got to within one with a run in the second as Banks
scored on a Charles Schultz
groundout, but UWM answered with two
runs in the top of the third on an
RBI double from Brooks Graff and a
sacrifice fly from Hart.
Shaffer, Kevin Libeg and Wells did not allow another run for
the rest of the game, and the
Penguins steadily chipped away at
the lead with a run in the third,
one in the fourth and another in the
sixth to tie the score at 4-4 and
send the game to extra innings.
J.D. Hannan tripled with one out in the third and scored on a
sacrifice fly from Caipen, and
Schultz singled home Banks in the
fourth to bring the Penguins to
within one at 4-3.
Dustin Thomas got the rally started in the sixth with a
one-out double inside the bag at
third, and Schultz followed with a
single to put runners at the
corners. Brockel came in and hit
Miek Turjanica with a 1-0 pitch to
load the bases, and Parks hit a
pinch-hit sacrifice fly to shallow
right to bring in Thomas to tie the
score.
The Panthers put a runner on third with one out in the
seventh but were turned away empty.
Steve Sanfilippo hit a leadoff
double to left center and advanced
on a Nick Goetz sacrifice bunt.
Libeg then got pinch hitter Zak
Rivera to ground out to shortstop
with the infield drawn in, and
Turjanica made a game-saving diving
stop toward the first baseline and
beat Nowicki to the bag to end the
inning.
Thomas was hit by a 1-0 offering to leadoff the eighth, and
pinch runner Sean Lucas advanced to
second on a Schulz sacrifice.
Turjanica then hit a rocket up the
middle that ricocheted off Brockel
to put runners at the corners. Parks
then hit a liner to left and Lucas
raced home with the game-winner.
Wells got the win for the Penguins, retiring the only batter
he faced in the eighth.
Phillips and Schultz finished with two hits apiece in game
two while Graff had two hits for the
UWM.
The Penguins and Panthers will play the series finale
tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Eastwood
Field.
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