YSU Baseball Falls 16-15 To Iowa In 10 Innings

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Iowa scored the tying run in the ninth on a balk and got a pinch-hit RBI double with two outs in the 10th to defeat the Youngstown State baseball team in a slugfest, 16-15.

The Penguins led by five runs twice and by three through seven innings. Iowa scored four runs in the eighth to go up 14-13, and Jeremy Banks gave the Penguins a 15-14 lead with a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the ninth. The Hawkeyes scored the tying run on a two-out balk when the umpire ruled that reliever Erik Okleson did not pause prior to his delivery, and the game-winner came when Taylor Zeutenhorst doubled in Chett Zeise with two outs in the 10th.

Banks had a monster day for the Penguins, going 4-for-4 with three runs scored and six RBIs. He also drew three walks and reached base in all seven of his plate appearances. Drew Dosch was 5-for-7 with three RBIs and two runs, and Jack Graham also drove in two.

Ryan Rumpf had four hits, Jake Mangler scored four times and Zeise scored for times for the Hawkeyes.

Rumpf was also the winning pitcher as he came on to record the final two outs in the 10th. Okleson was charged with the loss, allowing two runs on two hits in 1.2 innings.

YSU got single tallies in the first and second innings when Banks singled in Dosch in the first and Dosch brought in Phil Lipari in the second. The Guins then scored three runs on four hits and two errors in the third to go up 5-0. Kevin Hix and Dosch both had run-scoring infield hits, and Graham scored and reached on errors.

The Penguins returned the favor with two errors in the bottom of the third, which helped lead to two runs, and Rumpf tripled in Mangler in the fourth to make the score 5-3.  YSU then did all of its damage in the fifth after there were two outs as Craig Goubeaux singled in Jason Shirley and Graham doubled in Goubeaux and Banks to put YSU up 8-3.

Mangler doubled in three runs as part of a four-run fifth for the Hawkeyes, and they answered Banks’ bases-loaded walk with two more runs in the sixth to tie the score at 9-9.

The Penguins scored four two-out runs in the seventh to go up 13-9. Graham scored on Lipari’s fielder’s choice to break the tie, and Dosch singled in David Leon for the second run. Banks then put the Guins ahead by four with a two-run single to right that brought in Dosch and Lipari.

Iowa got an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 13-10, and the Hawkeyes took the lead with four runs in the eighth. The go-ahead run scored after a passed ball and a two-out error by Dosch at third.

Iowa reliever Nick Hibbing retired the first two Penguins in the ninth, but Shirley singled to left to keep the game alive. Banks then hit a 1-0 pitch over the right-field fence to put YSU up 15-14. In the bottom half, Okleson beaned Brand to start the inning, and he advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Brand went to third on a ground out, and he scored on the balk. Mike McQuillan followed with a single, but Okleson got Mangler to fly out to end the inning.

Hix walked and stole second with one out in the 10th for YSU, but back-to-back strikeouts left him stranded there. Zeise drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 10th, and he went to second on a sacrifice bunt that accounted for Iowa’s second out. Zeutenhorst then doubled in Zeise on a 2-0 pitch for the game winner.

YSU was looking for its first win over a current member of the Big Ten since 1996.

The Penguins will play a three-game series at VMI next weekend, starting on Friday at 5 p.m.

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