March 11, 2007

Defensive Blunders Costly in 8-6 Loss at Southern Illinois

    Carbondale, Ill. -- Youngstown State committed seven errors that led to three unearned runs in an 8-6 setback to Southern Illinois on Sunday afternoon at Abe Martin Field.
    The Penguins had committed just eight errors in their first seven games before seven different players committed errors Sunday. Sean Lucas and Tom Clayton had two hits apiece for the Penguins, who dropped to 0-8 on the year.
    YSU made a late push for the second straight day against the Salukis with a three-run seventh that cut the lead to one.
    Trailing 7-3 after six, the Penguins got three runs across in the seventh on two hits and an error. John Koehnlein drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on a Lucas single. Erich Diedrich then brought both runners home on a double to right and later scored on Clayton's sacrifice fly.
    The Salukis got one run back in the seventh thanks to two errors, and YSU went down in order in the eighth and ninth innings.
    Adam Kalafos suffered the loss after allowing six runs, four of which were earned, in four innings.
    The Salukis took a 4-0 lead after scoring three runs in the first and one in the second. The Penguins got a run in the fourth when Clayton doubled and scored on an RBI single from Eric Marzec, but SIU scored twice in the fourth to go up 6-1.
    The Penguins got two runs in the fifth thanks to to errors and a wild pitch, and SIU went up 7-3 with a run in the sixth.
    YSU will play at Marshall in a two-game series starting Tuesday at