Penguins Try to Get Back in Action Tonight at Wright State

by YSU

Thursday, Mar 28, 2013 8:29 am

After four consecutive weather-related cancelations, the Youngstown State baseball team will try to get back on the field and play at Wright State in a three-game series starting Thursday. The Penguins and Raiders are slated to play Thursday at Friday at 6:30 p.m. and on Saturday at 2 p.m. Live stats will be available for all three games, and Saturday's game will have live video streamed on HorizonLeague.com.

The Penguins haven't played a game since last Tuesday, March 19, due to prolonged wintry conditions in Northeast Ohio. They had their home-opening entire series with Chicago State scheduled for last weekend canceled, and a game scheduled for Tuesday at Akron was snowed out. YSU also had its game at Coppin State on March 12 canceled, and several other contests have changed times, days or locations due to weather.

YSU's last contest was a 20-15 win at Ohio in which it doubled its previous season high for runs in a game. The Penguins scored 11 runs in the third inning and had 16 hits, drew seven walks and capitalized on five errors by the Bobcats. Marcus Heath and Neil Schroth both had four RBIs apiece, and Nick DiNello had a game-high four hits. All nine of YSU's starters scored at least once, and eight of the nine had at least one hit.

The Penguins are 5-17 overall and 1-2 in Horizon League play heading into the three-game series at Wright State. YSU won its conference opener 8-7 at UIC on March 16 before dropping the next two contests 4-1 and 8-1. Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year Drew Dosch had the go-ahead RBI in YSU's win, and his .342 batting average leads the Penguins. The junior third baseman also leads YSU with 17 runs, eight doubles, three triples, two homers, a .595 slugging percentage and a .469 on-base percentage. Junior newcomer Kris Moules is batting .305, and Heath is hitting .282 with a team-best 17 RBIs. Nick DiNello has nine hits in his last 19 at bats to boost his average to .391, pushing for a spot in the starting line-up.

YSU will try again to host its Eastwood Field opener next week with a scheduled contest against Akron on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Scouting Wright State

Wright State is 3-3 through the first two weekends of conference play and is tied with UIC for second place in the standings. The Raiders won two of three games against Valparaiso last weekend and opened with a 1-2 showing against Milwaukee two weeks ago. Wright State has already played 12 home games – compared to YSU's zero – and is 6-6 at Nischwitz Stadium. With an overall record of 8-12, the Raiders rank second in the conference in batting average, on-base percentage and runs while leading the league in fielding percentage and strikeouts. Individually, Mark Fowler is hitting a team-high .360 with seven steals, and Kieston Greene has a team-best three home runs.

Pitching Matchups

    Game 1: YSU LHP Blake Aquadro (1-3, 5.19 ERA, 12 K, 10 BB) vs. Wright State RHP Casey Henn (3-3, 3.08 ERA, 32 K, 11 BB)
    Game 2: YSU RHP Ryan Krokos (0-3, 5.91 ERA, 5 K, 8 BB) vs. Wright State RHP Joey Hoelzel (0-2, 5.64 ERA, 20 K, 15 BB)
    Game 3: YSU RHP Patrick O'Brien (1-3, 4.85 ERA, 20 K, 8 BB) vs. TBA

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