May 23, 2007

Panthers' Big Inning Dooms Penguins in Tourney Opener

    Chicago -- Just like it had all season, Youngstown State played evenly with UW-Milwaukee through the first 6 1/2 innings of Wednesday's first round Horizon League Championship game. But UW-Milwaukee erupted for eight runs on seven hits in the bottom of the seventh en route to a 16-6 victory over the Penguins.
    YSU drops into the loser's bracket and will play an elimination game against Butler on Thursday at noon EST. The Panthers advance to play second-seeded Wright State at 4 p.m. and Cleveland State will play top-seeded UIC at 8 p.m.
    The Penguins and Panthers, who split six regular-season games, were tied 6-6 before UWM's big inning. YSU had battled back to tie the game for the third time in the top of the seventh on Erich Diedrich's home run.
    UW-Milwaukee sent 13 batters to the plate, had seven hits and benefited from an error in the seventh to go up 14-6. The Panthers then added two more runs in the eighth for the final margin.
    "The wheels kind of came off there, but other than that it was a pretty even ballgame," head coach Mike Florak said. "It was just a few hits and walks and we had a chance to get double plays back-to-back there and didn't get either one turned. When you do that against a good hitting team that will be the result, especially with the win blowing out like it was today."
    That wind became evident in the first inning as UW-MIlwaukee built a three-run lead. Nick Wichser hit an RBI double to plate Jesse Hart, and Josh Groves followed with a two-run homer off the top of the wall in right center.
    The Penguins got two unearned runs in the third when Lee Bainbridge walked with the bases loaded and Diedrich brought in Koehnlein on an infield single.
    Tom Clayton's leadoff double, his second of the game, led to a game-tying run in the fifth when he scored on Diedrich's grounder.
    "Tommy's a gamer, and he's got a very bright future here," Florak said. "I'm exciting about the things he's doing and the type of player that he's becoming."
    "We're real young, we just have a real young team and we need to keep working hard to get better."
    UW-Milwaukee scored two runs in the bottom half, but YSU answered again with two runs in the sixth Brent Parks' homer and Clayton's RBI single.
    Shawn Wozniak hit a solo blast in the bottom of the sixth to put UW-Milwaukee back on top 6-5, and Diedrich's solo homer in the top of the seventh set up UWM's big inning.
    Clayton finished 3-for-5, and Diedrich finished 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs. John Koehnlein singled twice to extend his hitting streak to 26 games.
    Groves finished with a career-high six RBIs, and Ross McCoy added three hits for UWM.
    YSU starter Lucas Engle allowed nine runs on 11 hits in six innings to drop to 4-6. Robert Michalkiewicz earned his sixth win despite being tagged for six runs on 10 hits in seven innings.
    The Penguins took four out of six games from the Bulldogs this season, including a three-game sweep in Indianapolis in March.