You can flip a coin to decide which band, ZZ Top or Lynyrd Skynyrd, would be the headliner for the Rebels & Bandoleros Tour which will be making a stop in Youngstown on May 22.  These are two of the premium bands to pioneer a hot Southern Rock movement which blossomed in the late 1970’s and carried over into the 80’s.

“These bands are big time for Youngstown,” commented Eric Ryan, director of the Covelli Centre.  “There are a few tickets left, but the response has been tremendous and we anticipate a sellout.”

Amazingly, ZZ Top has the same lineup it had 40 years ago.  Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard have beaten the odds of longevity and persevered into a few new decades as a trio.  Gibbons and Hill grew the trademark beards in 1977 when the band was taking a break between touring and the next album.  In 1983, Eliminator was released and MTV gave the band heavy rotation for their concept videos featuring some very pretty women.

This band has sold 50 million albums worldwide, 25 million in the US alone.  For all of their great accomplishments, the band was inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.  These guys are legendary and will live long beyond the mortal man as they have definitely carved their likeness into pop culture.

Speaking of leaving a mark on pop culture, Lynyrd Skynyrd takes a backseat to nobody.  Just in the last couple of years, bands on the way up have borrowed from the legendary group.  Kid Rock used the melody of Sweet Home Alabama to get himself a big #1 hit.  Shinedown took on Simple Man, and on and on.  Those Van Zant boys sure know how to write a good song.

There is so much history with Skynyrd.  They named their band Lynyrd Skynyrd after a stringent gym teacher named Leonard Skinner who had a policy against boys with long hair.  The 2006 Hall of Fame inductees are still pounding the arenas.  The only original member who remains is Gary Rossington.

Skynyrd has endured despite tragedy.  On October 20, 1977, just three days after the release of Street Survivors, and five shows into their most successful headlining tour to date, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s chartered airplane ran out of fuel near the end of their flight from Greenville, South Carolina, where they had just performed.  Though the pilots attempted an emergency landing on a small airstrip, the plane crashed in a forest in Gillsburg, Mississippi.  Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray were all killed on impact; the other band members suffered serious injuries.

Johnny Van Zant, and his brother, Donnie of 38 Special, carry the torch for the loss of Ronnie.  Johnny is in the current touring group, he just wasn’t an original member.  This band took ten years off  before deciding to give it a go in 1987.  Their music is absolutely unique and can be heard and recognized at any time.

Maybe that is what makes this twin bill on May 22 so special.  Both of these bands have a trademark sound that the average music fan can identify.  If you want good, original, from the heart Rock & Roll, this would serve as a can’t miss show.

Remember when you were a kid and believed that March came in like a lion and went out like a lamb?  Inclement weather has dominated Spring 2011 thus far and Groundhog Day is turning into a bigger commercial farce than Sweetest Day.  The good news is that despite sloppy playing conditions, the 39th Annual Red-White game happened, and the play was anything but sloppy.

Both offense and defense took turns shining on both sides of the ball.  The White team raced out to a 17-0 lead and held on for a 24-14 victory.  Sophomore running back Allen Jones ran for 159 yards, but the real story is the White defense holding the Red offense, which is the first-team starting offense, to just 14 points.

Before the game started, Coach Eric Wolford ran over to the home sideline and started a comical rant.  Looking at me, he said, “It’s beautiful out here today, good day to get some sun.  I’m gonna work on my tan, should have brought my lotion.  Did you bring any I can use?”

The White team reached into their bag of tricks on the very first play of the game.  Torrian Pace took a pitch on an apparent sweep right.  Pace, doing a good job showing a run, threw the ball downfield to Pat White.  White had to come out of the end zone to catch the ball at the one as it was slightly under thrown.  On the next play, Pace tallied on a one-yard touchdown to put the White ahead, 7-0.

Patrick Angle hooked up with White (above) in the corner of the end zone on a ten yard corner route to put the White team ahead, 14-0.  A dropped pass in the end zone would force the White group to settle on a David Brown 25-yard field goal to jump the lead to 17-0.

Jamaine Cook put his Red team on the board when he powered in from two yards out for six points to cut the margin to 17-7.  Earlier in the drive, Cook ran 22 yards on a 4th-and-1.  Kurt Hess also contributed on the drive as he would find Andre Barboza on a 4th-and-6 for 22 more yards to get to the White’s two yard line.

With just under four minutes to go in the first half, Cook broke what looked to be a long run but was stripped of the ball by Josh Lee and Donald D’Alesio recovered the loose football to secure the 10-point lead to halftime.

On the second offensive play of the second half for the White team, Jones raced 94 yards to pay dirt, which would be the only points of the second half for the White.  The Red would later got the ball back and went into two-minute mode in a second half that featured a continuous clock.  Hess had a nice drive connecting with Barboza twice and David Rogers once before hitting Adaris Bellamy on a swing pass that would go 23 yards for a touchdown to cut the White lead to 24-14.

Hess (above) finished the game 11-19 for 139 yards and a touchdown.  His big target of the day was Barboza who hauled in four Hess aerials for 69 yards.  For the White, Pat White was the top receiver with five catches for 68 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Kyle Sirl had eight tackles, three for a loss, for the Red.  Sirl and Ethan Stark recorded a pair of sacks each.  Obinna Ekweremuba had seven tackles to lead the White team, with two of those stops resulting in yardage losses.

The honorary coaches stayed dry as they were sitting upstairs in the enclosed press boxes.  Chatting with Eric Ryan, Tim Ryan, and Harry Meshel before the game started was enjoyable.

Last year, with very favorable weather, the Red-White game was Wolford’s coming out party.  There was a good crowd and a festive atmosphere.  This year, the luster may not have been as bright, but there were still people in the stands.  Conversely, the level of football played last season at this time, was a group of guys trying to grasp a system.  This year, it was mostly returning players who knew the system trying not to get hurt on a sloppy field.  Should be a great season and Wolford has things where they need to be at this point, the conclusion of Spring Football.

Jordan Ingalls is enjoying playing softball, liking the college experience of Youngstown State, and keeping her dreams and her goals on different paths.  She has twice been named Horizon League Player of The Week already this year and has paced the team offensively as the most consistent Lady Penguin.  Ingalls, a junior, takes a respectable stance on family, academics, and her approach to a game she loves.  She was good to interview, commenting that the questions she answered were not what she would have expected, that it was a fun conversation that she enjoyed.  Likewise.

Paneech: Are you and Sarah Ingalls both from Bolivar, New York?  Are you cousins, sisters?

Ingalls: (laughs)  We are related distantly.  Her great, great, great grandfather and my great, great, great, great grandfather were brothers.  Those brothers were cousins of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s father, Charles.  I had no idea that Sarah and I were related until my freshman year.  They came out to McCune Park saying they were my distant relatives and e-mailed me.  That was crazy in itself, and the following year, she ended up being on the team.

Paneech: How did you get started with softball and have you always been an outfielder?

Ingalls: It’s kind of an interesting story.  My dad was always really into sports and I was the only girl in the house besides my mom, so we were all really into sports.  My dad used to take me to the high school games when I was young and I saw the pitchers.  Being left-handed, shortstop was kind of out, so I tried the whole pitching thing.  I pitched my entire life and when I came to YSU, I pitched and played the outfield.  It’s crazy how you end up in places you never thought you would end up.  I am a completely different athlete now then when I came in.

Paneech: Who  is your favorite Major League Baseball Team and player?

Ingalls: I would say the Pirates are my favorite team.  I really don’t have a favorite player, but I used to really like Jack Wilson.  I have always been a Pirates fan because of my dad, every year we are hoping that they can turn it around.

Paneech: Do performance enhancing drugs exist in women’s softball?

Ingalls: It’s hard for me to imagine that happening in this sport.  When I look at friends and players I know from their teams, from our team, I would think never in a thousand years.  If you look at the overall spectrum, you wonder, could someone be doing that?  You would like to think that there is no abuse in softball.  Optimistically, I don’t think so.

Paneech: What is your approach to hitting.  Do you look for a certain pitch or do you attack what you see?

Ingalls: Most of hitting for me is strictly mental.  When I came in as a freshman, I was very aggressive and wanted to hit.  I want to hit so bad that sometimes I chase a pitch that is not my pitch.  After last year, I really worked in the cage on hitting in pressure situations and with runners in scoring position.  When you look at a good hitter, you can’t just look at the batting average because getting the job done is not always the result of a base hit.  In a smaller spectrum, you don’t have to get a hit every single time.  You analyze the situation and do what has to be done.  If I think too much, chances are bad I can help the team.

Paneech: What would you think about moving baseball season to August and football season to March since the weather has changed so much and three quarters of your season is dictated by Mother Nature?

Ingalls: I’ve never heard that before.  I think when you are an athlete, you go out and you want to play.  I hate seeing a game get cancelled for anybody.  The weather can’t be changed and when you are freezing, it should not prevent you from winning a game.  You can’t think about it.  When we played Loyola earlier this year, it was freezing.  It’s a mental game,  you are cold, but so is everyone else.

Paneech: The football and basketball players at this university are Twitter maniacs.  Do you partake in Twitter or Facebook?

Ingalls: A lot of the players on the team have Twitter and some get into it more than others.  There are a couple of girls on the team that it is every two seconds they are Tweeting.  I have an account but hardly ever use it.  I check it for scores.

Paneech: Who is your best friend on the team and why?

Ingalls:  Kristina Rendle. I’m nervous for next year when she will not be here.  We came in together and we know everything about each other.  I have such a good friendship with her that it is hard to think about coming to practice and her not being there.  We are like a package deal – it’s always Joradan and Rendy, Jordan and Rendy.  We help each other to get better by pitching to each other, we run at the exact same speed, she will push me and be honest with me.  She’s a great person to be with on or off of the field.

Paneech: What other sports did you play besides softball?

Ingalls: I played golf, my dad is a really good golfer, and I still play today and probably will for the rest of my life.  That will be the first sport that my kids play.  I love basketball, played soccer, and participated in track and field when I was younger.  I went to a really small school so anything you could get your hands on was fun, there just wasn’t much else to do.

Paneech: How is the school part going here?  Have you chosen a major yet?

Ingalls: I’m studying physical education to teach and have wanted to do that since kindergarten.  People come here and change their major four times and I don’t need to worry because I know what I want to do.  I substitute teach in New York because you can while you are going to school for it.  It doesn’t get old and I enjoy going to the classes.  The worst class I took here was weather with Buckler.  It was awful.  I was a freshman still learning how to study.  I had to learn what the temperature was in Arkansas if a low pressure system was moving North.  It was a nightmare, and I got a C in it.

One Word Answers

Favorite Hat: I wear a visor.

Typical Fast Food Order: Jimmy John’s #11 Country Club with barbecued chips and Diet Coke.

Biggest Phobia: Snakes.

Favorite TV Show: Criminal Minds.

Worst Habit: Chewing my gum too loud.

Best Baseball Movie Ever: Fever Pitch.

Dream Vacation: Ireland.

Favorite Musician: Lil Wayne.

Toppings on A Pizza: Whatever anyone wants, I like everything.

Favorite Holiday: Christmas Eve.

Special thanks to Ron Stevens for the photographs. The weather that Jordan doesn’t mind kept me away, but Ron had a few he let me use!

Youngstown State senior baseball player Phil Klein has been named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week for the period ending April 10, the league office announced on Monday.

Klein (Gahanna, Ohio) pitched seven strong innings against Butler on Saturday to win his fourth consecutive start. He held the Bulldogs to four singles and three walks while striking out 10 batters. He allowed just one unearned run after Butler had 15 runs and 18 hits the previous night.

He retired the first nine batters he faced and struck out two batters in three of the first four innings. A passed ball assisted with Butler’s run in the fourth, and Klein worked out of a first-and-third jam with one out in the seventh to help YSU keep a 2-1 lead. He got batter Zach Sizemore to miss on a squeeze and start a rundown, and he struck Sizemore out looking to end the inning.

Over his last five starts, Klein has a 1.32 ERA in 34 innings. He has allowed just five earned runs and struck out 40 batters. Klein leads the Horizon League with 54 strikeouts in 46.2 innings.

Klein was also recognized as the League’s Pitcher of the Week on March 21.

Klein and the Penguins have a busy week ahead with five games in five days. YSU plays at Kent State on Tuesday at 3 p.m. and hosts the Golden Flashes at Eastwood Field on Wednesday at 3 p.m. The Penguins will start a three-game series at Valparaiso on Friday.

Youngstown State senior Kim Klonowski was named the Horizon League Player of the Week for April 11, the league announced on Monday.

It marks the third time in the last five weeks a Youngstown State player has garnered the award from the league, and the fourth time this season that a YSU player has received a weekly honor. Junior Jordan Ingalls, who will be featured in a Paneech.com Profile later this week, was named the player of the on March 21 and March 28, and freshman Casey Crozier was named the pitcher of the week on Feb. 28.

Klonowski batted .467, went 7-for-15 on the week, crushing her first two home runs of the season, driving in four while recording a hit in four of the five contests.

Youngstown State went 4-1 last week, collecting a key road series win at UIC over the weekend. Holding a 19-14 record, the Penguins sit just one victory from their first 20-win season since 2006.

In the Penguins’ doubleheader versus Toledo, the senior belted her first homer of the season in a 10-0 rout that capped the sweep. Her second long ball of the week came in the opener of the League series on Saturday, helping push Youngstown State to a 6-3 win over UIC.

With the Red-White game just a week away, the Youngstown State Penguins hit the field for their last controlled scrimmage heading into the final week of April practices.  Coach Eric Wolford knows that there is plenty to be done, but was ultimately satisfied with the effort put forth by the team on Saturday.

“I was encouraged by the defense when we were doing third down situations the first time up”, said Wolford.  “At the end of the scrimmage, we created the Western Illinois game again.  There are four minutes left on the clock, and the offense tries to eat up the time on the clock by staying in bounds and taking care of the football.  We ended up popping a big run that put us up by ten points there.  Those are the two things that stick out as positives right now.”

From a statistical standpoint, Pat White (above) had the big day catching 10 passes for 206 yards and five touchdowns.  White hauled in a 70-yarder from Marc Kanetsky. White would also hook up with Kanetsky for touchdowns of 20 and 8 yards.  Najee Tyler found White for a 49-yard score, and Patrick Angle would also find White in the end zone from 21 yards out for six.

White commented on his big day.  “We are going to keep trying to get better every day.  I just made plays I am expected to make and didn’t know I had that many yards.  I’m gonna try to do my thing no matter who is front of me.  Coach commented that we took a step forward today, and that felt good.  We only had five receivers out there.”

Unfortunately, there were still plenty of dropped balls to force receivers coach, Andre Coleman (above) to rub his head a few times.

Wolford commented that the drops are still there and they need to stop.  “Pat White made some nice plays today, but we need to find some consistency with him.  We know we have a pretty good running game.  At receiver, we saw some positive things today, but we need to become more consistent.”

Kanetsky led the quarterbacks on the stats sheets.  The Hubbard, Ohio grad completed 15-17 passes for 241 yards and four touchdowns.  Starter Kurt Hess was 13-26 for 164 yards and one touchdown.

Jamaine Cook also had a pretty big day getting 17 touches for 170 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

With just a week of Spring practice left, the Penguins are focusing on consistency and situations that they got beat in last season.  The Spring game will start at noon on Saturday.  Kelly Pavlik, Tim Ryan, and Jay Williams have already been confirmed as honorary coaches for the event.

The Youngstown Phantoms (23-30-7,53 pts) did their part by winning their last two games of the season, but unfortunately Waterloo also picked up a win which has eliminated the Phantoms from the playoff picture. On Fan Appreciation Night, the Phantoms defeated the Chicago Steel (9-43-8,26 pts) 8-2 and they were led by Ryan Belonger who recorded the second Phantoms hat trick in as many nights.

Danny Mattson and the Phantoms got on the board first with ten minutes left in the first period after Mattson put a rebound shot past Chicago netminder Connor Wilson to give the Phantoms the early lead. It did not take the Steel long to answer when Joel Benson put a wrist shot in the back of the net to tie the game up at one just two minutes later. After the Benson goal, the Phantoms took control of the game for good. Dylan Margonari scored once and Belonger scored twice for the Phantoms to close out the first period. Youngstown took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission.

“Our guys played well and it was nice to see them get rewarded for their hard work,” said Phantoms head coach Curtis Carr. “We said the whole way that we need to win these two games to give ourselves a chance and unfortunately it just did not work out for us.”

In the second period, only two goals would find the back of the net.  Ben Paulides, who has been pushing for a goal this whole season, found the back of the net with a slap shot from the point that beat Wilson low on his glove side.  The Steel would come back :44 later and cut the lead back down to three goals as Aiden Cavallini scored on a rebound in front of the Phantoms crease. The Phantoms went into the second intermission leading Chicago 5-2.

In the third period, the Phantoms would add three more goals to bring their total to eight.  Chris Bradley scored his first of the night with a slap shot from the point and Margonari would score the Phantoms third power play goal of the game but both would be out done by number 16. Belonger tipped a Justin Stevens slap shot past Colin Brennan to secure his first career hat trick and the Phantoms second trick in as many nights.

“I felt like I was one uped by Ambrosia last night,” said Belonger. “I felt like I had to get him back, he had his three, so I felt like I needed to get my three.”

Unfortunately for the Phantoms, their hard work and scoring prowess will still leave them just shy of the playoff after Waterloo defeated the Dubuque Fighting Saints 2-1. Even in defeat there are still positive lessons for both the returning and graduating Phantoms to take with them as they depart for the summer.

A day after the Youngstown State baseball team was beaten 15-1, a pair of Phil’s helped the Penguins respond with a doubleheader sweep of Butler on Saturday afternoon and win the series.

Starting pitcher Phil Klein won his fourth straight start in game one of the double dip and led YSU to a 5-1 victory.  Phil Lipari‘s walk-off single in the ninth capped a series of late heroics in game two as YSU won 4-3.

The pair of wins improved YSU’s Horizon League record to 3-3, and Butler dropped to 4-5 with the pair of defeats.

“I’m happy for our guys because we showed a lot of character to come back and win two today after how we lost last night,” YSU head coach Rich Pasquale said.  “It was a long day mentally and physically, and for us to win in the last at bat was awesome.”

After Klein allowed one unearned run on four hits in seven innings in game one, the Penguins had to rally from a three-run deficit in game two.

In the second game, Lipari (top photo) had a game-high three hits, and four of his teammates added two hits apiece.

“Klein is putting us on his back, and we’re going with him,” Pasquale said. “He located his fastball tremendously well, and he was dominant for us again against a team that had 18 hits last night.”

Klein struck out 10 batters in his seven innings. He became the seventh player in school history to strike out at least 200 batters over a career.

As an unofficial end point to Spring Football at Youngstown State University, a pancake breakfast is offered to the public to raise money for a good cause.  Head Coach Eric Wolford and his wife are the founders of a charity called No Stone Unturned.  The charity helps families who have had problems financially and fallen victim to the crazy healthcare situations.

Wolford, speaking on the breakfast, commented, “We expect a big turnout and there are a lot of people helping with it.  It is going to be a big day.  Players and many other people will be there helping out.”

The breakfast itself starts at 9 a.m. at Mt Carmel Hall in Youngstown.

Wolford credits his wife for much of the organization of these type of functions.  He says it is their way to “pay ahead” and help people who have children with disabilities continue to provide for their families and not spend every cent they have on medical bills.

 Youngstown State men’s basketball Head Coach Jerry Slocum will be a featured guest today on SportsCenter at 4:30 p.m. on ESPNews.

Slocum has been a highly-requested guest of the national sports media recently due to the Guins being the last team to defeat Butler, who is playing in its second straight national championship game.

Last Saturday at the Final Four in Houston, Texas, Slocum was a guest on FoxSports Radio’s “Game Time Show” with Anthony Gargano, Lincoln Kennedy and Jeff Goodman.