Youngstown State: Track team; women’s basketball wins; baseball, softball falls
The Youngstown State track team got a strong start Saturday at the Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships, the women’s basketball team defeated Robert Morris, while the baseball and softball teams dropped doubleheaders.
Here is a roundup of Saturday’s action.
Track and Field
Fort Wayne, Ind. – The Youngstown State men’s and women’s track and field opened competition at the 2023 Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Lutheran Health Fieldhouse on the Purdue Fort Wayne campus on a strong note on Saturday.
Earning event victories for the Penguins were Wyatt Lefker (men’s pole vault), Olivia Jones (women’s pentathlon), Morgan Cole (5,000m) and Hunter Christopher (5,000m) all claimed wins.
In the team standings, the YSU men are off to a hot start while the women are in second behind Milwaukee.
The men scored an impressive 97 points to build a 52-point lead over Milwaukee. The women will have some work to do on Sunday as Milwaukee built a 80-55 advantage at the conclusion of the first day.
Christopher Sprear headed a 1-2-3-4 YSU finish in the 5,000m taking first place with a time of 14:30.37. At the midway point, Christopher seized an opportunity to go in front and never looked back. His teammates turned up the heat as the race wore on and were the next three finishers. Ryan Meadows zoomed to second-place finish with a time of 14:35.38, Tyler Clark was third at 14:36.81 and Chase Easterling took fourth at 14:37.71.
Lefker won the pole vault for the third time in his career. After winning previous indoor titles in 2020 and 2021, he claimed the 2023 title by clearing a meet-record mark of 5.16m on his second attempt. He tried to clear 5.55m and just missed on his third and final attempt.
YSU added second and fourth-place finishes by a pair of newcomers to the league meet in the event. Dorian Chaigneau earned a second-place mark in his Horizon League debut clearing a height of 5.06m. Freshman Blake Sifferlin had a strong debut clearing 4.96m on his third try to finish fourth.
Jones won her fourth career pentathlon crown in impressive fashion. She had the top marks in the high jump and shot put and second-best in the long jump to score 3,730 points and win by 61 over Milwaukee’s Natalie Block, who was named the Horizon League’s Alfreeda Goff Athlete of the Year on Friday.
Cole claimed her second straight victory in the 5,000m run running a time of 17:07.47. Cole took control from the outset of the race and never looked back as she finished almost seven seconds ahead of PFW’s Brooke Neal. Ashleigh Rowley placed fifth while Mackenzie Scott finished seventh.
It was the fourth title for Jones who had previously won the event in 2021, 2020 and 2019. Emily Bee finished eighth with a score of 2,949.
In the men’s weight throw, the Guins placed second, fourth and fifth led by Dominic Perry. Perry had a toss of 18.15m to take second while Dante Mediati was fourth in his Horizon League debut with a mark of 16.85m and Zach Gray was fourth at 16.66m.
In the men’s long jump, YSU took places third through seventh on the podium. Tye Hunt led the way with a third-place effort of 7.45m while Jakari Lomax as fourth (7.33m), Andrew Frank was fifth (7.17m), Luke Laubacher was sixth (7.08m) and Samuel Challis was seventh (7.06m).
In the women’s pole vault, a pair of Penguins had strong second-place performances. Emma Etzwiler and Melana Schumaker each cleared the bar at 3.70m.
In the women’s weight throw, Lauren Sheehan had an outstanding performance to finish in a tie for second place. Sheehan had a toss of 16.61m in the event.
In the final event of the evening, the men’s DMR earned a second-place finish with a time of 10:18.32.
In running qualifying contests:
Women’s 60m hurdles – Madison Murry (8.61 seconds) and Teddi Kinsey (8.92 seconds) both advanced to the finals.
Men’s 60m hurdles – Luke Laubacher (8.15 seconds) and Harry Barton (8.41 seconds) both advanced to the finals.
Men’s 400m dash – Ryan Laird (49.83 seconds) advanced to the finals with the fifth-best time.
Women’s 60m dash – Jahniya Bowers (7.27 seconds), Kyndia Matlock (7.55 seconds) and Cyncere Cunningham (7.68 seconds) advanced to the finals.
Men’s 60m dash – Tye Hunt (6.94 seconds), Christian Ford (6.94 seconds) and Jalen Ghee (6.96 seconds) advanced to the finals.
Women’s 800m – Malena Cybak (2:18.42) and Carly Hall (2:19.13) advanced to the finals. Hall got tripped on her race and still moved onto the final race.
Men’s 800m – Trenton Shutters (1:57.96), William Hanchosky (1:58.56), Mikel Lagaras (1:59.12) and Tobias Jones (1:59.25) advanced to the finals.
Women’s 200m – Jahniya Bowers (24.30 seconds) and Kyndia Matlock (25.12) advanced to the finals.
Men’s 200m – Christian Ford (22.17 seconds) and Harry Barton (22.48) advanced to the finals.
The final day of action starts bright and early on Sunday with the high jump at 9:15 a.m. Running events get underway at 1 p.m.
Women’s basketball
The Youngstown State women’s basketball team used strong first and fourth quarters to beat Robert Morris 65-51 on Saturday afternoon at the UPMC Events Center. It was the regular-season finale for both teams.
The Penguins finish the regular season with a 19-10 overall record and a 13-7 mark in conference play. YSU won at least 13 Horizon League games for the third time in school history. Robert Morris dropped to 11-18 overall and 5-15 against league opponents.
Youngstown State outscored the Colonials 19-5 in the first quarter, and it shook off a tough third quarter as Robert Morris got as close as one. YSU scored the first seven points of the fourth, and it outscored its nearest Division I rival 21-8 in the period.
Phoenix Gedeon scored 15 points to lead three Colonials in double figures.
Ritz scored on the first possession of the game, and Youngstown State led the rest of the afternoon. She scored six of YSU’s first nine points, and Callahan hit a 3 and made a layup on back-to-back possessions to give the Penguins their first double-digit lead at 14-3 with 5:45 left in the first period. Callahan scored again in the final seconds of the period to get to seven points, and she gave YSU a 19-5 lead after 10 minutes.
Youngstown State led by double figures for all but 17 seconds of the second quarter, and Magestro hit a corner 3-pointer on the final possession to give the Penguins their largest lead of the half at 35-19.
Ritz scored on the opening possession of the third quarter to get to 10 points, and scored at the 9:03 mark to give YSU a 39-21 lead. After that bucket by Jarrells, RMU outscored the Penguins 22-5 over the rest of the period. RMU scored 15 straight points to get within three when Simone Morris made two free throws with 4:02 on the clock, and the Colonials closed the gap to one three different times in the quarter.
The Penguins held a 44-43 heading into the fourth, but they quickly regained control in the final period. Ritz scored on the opening possession, nailed a 3-pointer, and Magestro hit a mid-range jumper as YSU went on a 7-0 run over the first three minutes of the quarter. After Morris hit a 3 for RMU to close the gap to five, YSU scored the next 14 points to pull away with a 64-45 lead. Callahan started it with a 3-pointer and a two on consecutive possessions, and Magestro, Jarrells and Shy made 3s in a four-possession stretch.
RMU scored the final five points for the final margin.
Youngstown State 50% overall, and it shot about 50% in the first, second and fourth quarters. Ritz was 8-for-10 from the field to lead the effort, and YSU’s guards complemented her with 11 3-pointers on 25 attempts. Callahan and Magestro hit three treys apiece, Shy made two, and , and Jarrells each made one.
Robert Morris shot 31.4% overall, and it was 2-for-17 in the first quarter and 2-for-9 in the fourth. YSU held a 36-27 rebounding edge, and it doubled up RMU 28-14 in the paint.
Youngstown State will be the fourth seed in the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship. It will host fifth-seeded Northern Kentucky on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the men’s team.
Softball
Baltimore, Md. – The Youngstown State softball team dropped a pair of games on day one of the UMBC Tournament falling to Lafayette, 5-4, and UMBC, 3-0.
The Penguins fall to 1-5 on the season.
In the opener against Lafayette, Conchetta Rinaldi went 2-for-4 with a triple and a run batted in while Hailey Roach went 2-for-3 with a double and a run batted in.
Megan Turner also went 2-for-3 for the Penguins.
Sophie Howell struck out eight in five innings.
Against UMBC, the Penguins tallied one hit, a double by Jillian Jakse.
Devan Ryan struck out six and scattered eight hits in the loss.
The Penguins face Lafayette and UMBC, Sunday, beginning at 10 a.m.
Baseball
The Youngstown State baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader against Memphis on Saturday at FedExPark Avron Fogelman Field in Memphis, Tenn.
The Penguins dropped a 13-9 decision in seven innings in game one before falling 3-1 in game two. The start of the doubleheader was delayed by two hours due to rain in the Memphis area.
Youngstown State falls to 1-6 on the season while Memphis improves to 5-2.
Game 1 Recap
Memphis used a pair of six-run innings to defeat the Youngstown State baseball team 13-9 in seven innings in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at FedExPark in Memphis, Tenn.
The Penguins jumped in front 3-0 after the top of the first, but the Tigers responded by scoring six runs in the home half of the inning to take a 6-3 lead. Memphis added a single run in the second inning to go up 7-3 before YSU scored once in the fifth to make it a three-run game. The Tigers posted their second six-run inning in the bottom of the fifth to build a 13-4 advantage. The Guins plated two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh for the final margin.
Trey Law went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored to pace the Penguins offensively. Law’s four hits marked a new single-game career high, and he matched his career best with two RBIs. Padraig O’Shaughnessy went 3-for-4 with a double and his first home run of the season while Turner Grau was 3-for-5 with his first home run of 2023. YSU posted new season highs with nine runs and 15 hits as the Penguins outhit the Tigers 15-14.
YSU starter Nick Perez suffered the loss after allowing nine runs, five of them earned, on 10 hits and striking out four batters over four innings of work. Cam Marshalwitz was responsible for two runs on one hit without recording an out while Will Shaffer was charged with two runs on three hits over two innings of relief.
The Penguins struck first with three runs on five hits in the top of the first inning. Law and Grau hit back-to-back singles to begin the frame, and Law was able to score when Grau was thrown out attempting to steal second base. Later in the inning, Andre Good delivered a two-out, two-run single through the left side to give YSU a 3-0 lead.
The Tigers answered immediately by scoring six runs on five hits in the home half of the first. Cameron Benson hit a leadoff single and came around to score on an error before an RBI single by Braden Webb. Jake Curtis drove in a run with a sacrifice fly before Brayland Skinner hit a two-out, three-run triple to center field to give Memphis a 6-3 edge. The Tigers pushed their lead to 7-3 with a solo home run from Anthony Hansen in the bottom of the second inning.
YSU got the deficit back to three runs at 7-4 when Padraig O’Shaughnessy hit a solo blast with one out in the top of the fifth.
Memphis would post its second six-run inning of the game in the bottom of the fifth to build a 13-4 advantage. Skinner hit a two-run triple and scored on a throwing error, Benson scored on an RBI groundout by RJ Jimerson and Austin Baskin hit a two-run homer to left field.
The Penguins continued to battle as they scored two runs on two hits in the top of the sixth inning. Ian Francis drew a leadoff walk before Grau belted a two-out, two-run blast over the wall in right field to trim Memphis’ lead to 13-6. YSU added three more runs in the top of the seventh as Padraig O’Shaughnessy hit a one-out double and scored on an RBI single by Matt Thompson. Later in the frame, Law delivered a two-out, two-run single to plate the final runs of the contest.
Memphis starter David Warren earned the victory by allowing five runs on 11 hits with six strikeouts over 5.2 innings. Chase Kessinger surrendered four runs on four hits in one inning of relief before Luke Ellis came on to record the final out of the game.
Hansen went 3-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored to pace the Tigers offensively while Skinner finished 2-for-3 with a pair of triples and five RBIs.
Game 2 Recap
Memphis scored three runs over the first five innings on its way to a 3-1 victory over the Youngstown State baseball team in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader at FedExPark in Memphis, Tenn.
Steven D’Eusanio hit his second home run of the season while Law, Padraig O’Shaughnessy, Clay Wiesen and Eddie Saucedo also had hits for the Penguins.
YSU starter Brandon Mikos took the loss after allowing three runs on seven hits with three strikeouts over a career-high six innings pitched. Casey Marshalwitz and Kenny Misik combined to toss two innings of scoreless relief.
The Tigers got on the board first with one run on two hits in the bottom of the second inning. Baskin hit a leadoff single and came around to score on a two-out RBI single by Tyler Heckert to give Memphis a 1-0 lead.
Memphis extended its lead to 2-0 in the home half of the third when Hansen hit a two-out double and Baskin followed with an RBI single to right field.
The Tigers went ahead 3-0 when Heckert led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo home run to left field.
Youngstown State got on the board when D’Eusanio led off the top of the ninth with a solo home run to left center field. After Padraig O’Shaughnessy reached on an error, Memphis reliever Dalton Kendrick recorded three straight outs including two strikeouts to pick up the two-inning save.
Memphis starter JT Durham earned the victory after allowing four hits and striking out seven batters over seven scoreless innings.
Baskin, Hansen and Heckert each had two hits to lead the Tigers offensively. Memphis outhit YSU 7-5 for the contest.
The Penguins will attempt to salvage the series split against the Tigers in the series finale on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on YSNLive.com.
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