Cleveland State, Youngstown State Post Key League Baseball Wins Friday
Release
Horizon League ·
May 21, 2005
FAIRBORN, OH - On a cool Friday evening at Nischwitz Stadium, the Wright State baseball team closed out their home schedule with two victories over Ball State, taking game one 4-2 and then taking the nightcap 5-4.
The first game was started on Thursday evening and suspended due to the inclement weather in the Miami Valley; the game was stopped with Ball State holding a 2-0 advantage in the second inning.
When the game was restarted the next day, it was all WSU. The Green and Gold banged out ten hits and scored four runs. The Raiders manufactured a run in the second when Brian Shoup led the inning off with a walk and scored on a Paul Majestic RBI double.
The Raiders tied the game in the fourth when Amin Abusaleh smashed his fifth home run of the season down the left field line. With the game knotted at 2-2, Justin Wilson reached on a single and Travis Migliorini doubled into the right-center field gap to score Wilson and give the Raiders a 3-2 lead.
The Raiders tacked on their fourth run in the sixth, courtesy of Majestic's second RBI double of the contest. On the game Wilson, Abusaleh and Majestic all collected two hits and Migliorini chipped in an RBI.
Chris Snyder picked up his fifth victory of the season, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out seven batters. Joe Smith came on in the eighth to throw 1.2 innings, striking out two batters, and picking up his seventh save.
In game two, the Raiders fell behind 1-0 in the top of the third inning before taking the lead in their half of the inning. In the inning the Raiders had two runners on base, with two outs, when Shoup delivered his team high seventh home run of the year, a towering 390 foot shot into the lights at Nischwitz Stadium.
The Cardinals answered with three of their own in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead and knock out Raider starter Ross Vagedes. Vagedes threw five innings in the no-decision, striking out five batters and allowing four runs on six hits.
The Raiders would not give up, however, scoring a single run in the fifth on an RBI single from John Kopilchack, and in the sixth on a Shoup single. On the game, Shoup was two-for-four with four RBI and a run scored. Driving in the other Raider RBI was Kopilchack who singled and reached on an error in the game. Abusaleh also collected two hits and scored twice for the Raiders.
Cleveland State 7, Butler 6
Cleveland State 11, Butler 7
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio - A clear and sunny afternoon provided the ideal setting for a couple of Viking wins, as Cleveland State claimed a pair of victories over Butler at Forest Hill Park on Friday (May 2). CSU battled back from three runs down in game one to pull off a 7-6 win before holding on for an 11-7 decision in game two after jumping to a 9-0 first inning lead.
The wins push the Vikings to 12-34 on the season and 4-15 in the Horizon League, while Butler falls to 19-32 overall and 4-11 in conference play. A win by CSU on Saturday (May 21) would tie the Vikings with the Bulldogs for fifth place at a .250 winning percentage, but Cleveland State would earn the higher seed with the three head-to-head wins this weekend as the tie-breaker.
The Vikings dipped into their reserves for the two starting pitchers, sending sophomore Ryan Dukovich to the mound in game one for his first career start and penciling in Kolin Kelly in game two for his first appearance since 2003.
In game one, Butler jumped out to an early lead off solo home runs by Stephen Gill in the second and Alex Rinearson in the third before tallying a third run in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Tony Barnes.
As they had done so often in their wins this season, Cleveland State took advantage of a big inning in the fifth, notching five runs on three hits for a 5-3 lead. CSU loaded the bases with one out and plated one run on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Cash. A walk to Gary Ball reloaded the bases before Steve Chinn drew a 3-2 walk to push across another run.
Mike Ochwat followed with a bases-clearing triple to the gap in right center to give the Vikings a two-run cushion.
Butler would respond in the sixth, taking advantage of some wildness by the CSU pitching to plate three runs and reclaim the lead at 6-5. The Vikings answered quickly in the bottom of the frame, however, as Dominic Erney led off with his ninth home run of the season before Marc Sikora came around on an RBI double by Jeff Katlen.
The Bulldogs made things interesting in the seventh, loading the bases with two down before Katlen, pitching in relief of Dukovich, worked the final out.
Butler held CSU to five hits in the game, but the Vikings made each one of them count. Erney and Sikora each tallied a pair of runs, while Ochwat tallied three RBI. Katlen picked up his first-career win to move to 1-4 on the year, while Josh Vollmer fell to 1-2 after giving up the lead in relief.
Game two began as though it would be a laugher, as the Viking tagged Butler starter Bryan Bokowy for nine runs, all of them unearned, in a strange first inning.
Following a lead-off triple by Chinn, Bokowy struck out Ochwat swinging on a ball in the dirt, but the catcher threw the ball away in an attempt to put him out at first to send Ochwat to second and Chinn home. Katlen followed and struck out swinging as well, but reached first as the ball got away from the catcher for a wild pitch.
The Vikings did not let the opportunity go to waste, as CSU sent 12 batters to the plate for three two-out hits, capped by a two-run home run by Ochwat in his second at bat of the inning.
The large lead seemed in jeopardy later in the game, however, as Butler got to Kelly for two runs in the second and five in the fourth to close the gap to two runs. CSU got a huge boost from Carmen DeChristofaro, who entered the game with two down in the fourth and silenced the Bulldog bats over the final three innings, setting down the last 10 hitters in a row.
Meanwhile, the Vikings added some insurance runs on an RBI double by Erney in the fifth and an RBI double by Cash in the sixth.
Kelly notched his first career win to move to 1-0 on the season, while Bokowy was tagged for the loss despite not allowing a single earned run. Cash went 2-for-4 on in the game with three RBI and a run scored.
Erney's fifth-inning double was the 224th hit of his career, jumping him past Mark Zofka for third most in school history.
Saturday's game will be the second time in two seasons that the Vikings have battled Butler in a winner-take-all game for a tournament seeding. Last year, CSU and Butler went down the their final game of the season to decide the No. 2 seed in the Horizon League Tournament, with Butler edging the Vikings in the final game.
CSU got the better of the Bulldogs in the tournament, however, claiming a 2-1 win to advance.
Youngstown State 9, UW-Milwaukee 1
NILES, Ohio -- Justin Thomas threw a complete-game five-hitter and Brandon Caipen went 2-for-4 with four RBIs to lift Youngstown State to a 9-1 victory over UW-Milwaukee on Friday evening at Eastwood Field.
Thomas struck out 10 hitters did not allow a run through 8 1/3 innings before pinch hitter Shane Davis hit the first pitch of his at bat over the wall in left field to spoil the shutout.
With the win, the Penguins improved to 26-24 overall and 8-5 in the Horizon League while the Panthers fell to 22-27 and 11-6 in league contests. The teams will square off in a doubleheader tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Eastwood Field. YSU can clinch a first-round bye in the league tournament with a sweep or a split and a win on Sunday.
Caipen hit a three-run triple to blow the game open in YSU's five-run seventh inning and was one of four different Penguins to hit a three-bagger. Charles Schultz had two hits and two runs scored while Brent Parks also scored twice for the Penguins, who snapped an eight-game losing skid.
Turjanica put the Penguins on the board in the second with a two-out, two-run triple to center. Jim Phillips drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a Charles Schultz single to right two batters later. Turjanica then ripped a 1-0 offering over centerfielder Mike Goetz for his first career extra base hit to give YSU a 2-0 lead.
Panthers' starter Aaron Sorenson settled down and did not allow a hit to the next 10 hitters after Turjanica's triple until J.D. Hannan led off the sixth with a triple to the gap in right center. Caipen then singled to right to bring in Hannan to make the score 3-0 in favor of the Penguins.
Sorenson, who had won his last seven starts and had not lost since March 11 at Oklahoma State, could not make it through the seventh as the Penguins scored five runs on four hits, two walks and a hit batsman. After Phillips flied out to start the inning, Dustin Thomas was hit in the shoulder on a 1-0 pitch and Schultz singled to send pinch runner Brent Parks to third.
After an intentional walk to Turjanica to load the bases, Josh Page hit a check-swing single to right to bring home Parks and advance everyone up a base. Sorenson fanned Hannan on a 2-2 pitch for the second out of the inning, but Caipen ripped a 3-2 triple to left center to clear the bases and put YSU up 7-0. Justin Banks followed a walk to Erich Diedrich with an RBI single to center that made the score 8-0.
Parks led off the eighth with a triple to left center off reliever Jed Dolske and scored one batter later when Schultz hit a sacrifice fly to right to make the score 9-0.
Thomas improved to 7-5 on the year and 3-1 in Horizon League contests. In league bouts, he has an ERA of 2.00, has thrown three complete games and has struck out 33 hitters in 27 innings.
Parks' triple in the eighth extended his hitting streak to nine games.
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May 21, 2005
Wright State 4, Ball State 2
Wright State 5, Ball State 4
Cleveland State 7, Butler 6
Cleveland State 11, Butler 7
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio - A clear and sunny afternoon provided the ideal setting for a couple of Viking wins, as Cleveland State claimed a pair of victories over Butler at Forest Hill Park on Friday (May 2). CSU battled back from three runs down in game one to pull off a 7-6 win before holding on for an 11-7 decision in game two after jumping to a 9-0 first inning lead.
Youngstown State 9, UW-Milwaukee 1
NILES, Ohio -- Justin Thomas threw a complete-game five-hitter and Brandon Caipen went 2-for-4 with four RBIs to lift Youngstown State to a 9-1 victory over UW-Milwaukee on Friday evening at Eastwood Field.
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