Baseball Drops Season Opener at Jacksonville State

by YSU

Saturday, Feb 14, 2015 8:05 am

Jacksonville, Ala. – Jacksonville State scored six runs in the first inning and got solid production throughout its lineup to beat Youngstown State 13-1 on Friday at Rudy Abbott Field in the season opener for both teams.

Preseason All-American Paschal Petrongolo went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a three-run homer, and Clayton Daniel also had three hits for the Gamecocks, who won the OVC Tournament in 2014. Jacksonville State finished the afternoon with 15 hits.

Junior catcher Jonny Miller, a transfer from Cypress College, was 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored to lead Youngstown State. Jason Shirley and Frank Califano both reached twice for the Penguins, the winners of the 2014 Horizon League Tournament. Youngstown State had its first outside practice of the season at JSU on Thursday.

Kevin Yarabinec, making the first start of his career, allowed six runs in the first before settling in. He surrendered four hits, including a two-run single to Ryan Sebra, and walked three batters in the inning as Jacksonville State built a 6-0 lead. Three of those runs were unearned.

Jacksonville State added a pair of two-out runs in the fourth to go up 8-0.

YSU's run came with two outs in the sixth inning when Miller walked, advanced to third on Shirley's single and scored on a balk. Jacksonville State got an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth to go up 9-1, and Petrongolo's three-run homer came in JSU's four-run seventh.

Zachary Fowler allowed one hit and struck out four batters in five scoreless innings to earn the win for Jacksonville State. Yarabinec was charged with four earned runs on six hits in 3.2 innings in the loss.

The Penguins and Gamecocks will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Youngstown State (0-1)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	5
Jacksonville State (1-0)	6	0	0	2	0	1	4	0	X	13	15	0

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