Archive for April, 2012

The Youngstown State football team had a productive two-hour scrimmage on Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium.  Anyone not living under a rock knows that all of the pieces from last season are back on offense this season.  However, a young defense with lots of new faces will continue to thrive and improve.  The defensive unit, unfortunately, is competing against an offense that practically rewrote the record books in 2011.

The Penguins worked on moving-the-ball, red-zone, third-down, four-minute and two-minute situations during the workout, and the offense opened the scrimmage with three consecutive crisp scoring drives.

On the first sequence junior quarterback Kurt Hess engineered a 11-play, 70-yard scoring drive. On the drive, Hess was 5-for-5 while senior tailback Jamaine Cook  (above) ran for 22 yards on five carries. Cook rushed for six yards on a fourth-and-two play from the 33 to extend the drive. Three plays later, Hess connected with Christian Bryan on 17-yard scoring toss.

On the second drive, sophomore quarterback Patrick Angle and junior tailback Torrian Pace went to work. Pace carried the ball four times for 16 yards while Angle was 5-for-5, including a 36-yard strike to tight end Nate Adams. After the defense forced a third-and-goal from the eight, Angle found Jelani Berassa (below) in the back of the end zone for a score capping a 10-play 70-yard march.

Angle led the offense on a 65-yard drive on the following possession. Cook opened the drive with a 25-yard rush while Jordan Thompson followed with carries of five, 18, 13 and three yards. On 3rd-and-4 from the 11-yard line, Angle went to Berassa again for nine yards to pick up a first down. Thompson then found a crack of daylight, scoring from two yards out.

“We are going to start to solidify positions”, said Head Coach Eric Wolford.  “We are pretty deep into this thing.  I was encouraged by things that I saw on both sides of the football.  Overall, we are getting better and there are still missed tackles and things we need to improve on.  Jeremy Edwards did a very good job on Will Shaw downfield today.  Will can run and Jeremy kept him in check.  It’s just an example of the expectations and that we are getting better on that side of the ball.”

“This is a process”, echoed Defensive Line Coach, Tom Sims.  “Last season, Andrew Johnson was a leader on defense, but there really was not much leadership from the linebackers and defensive backs, partly because they are so young.  Ultimately, we want competition.  If the ones get hurt, we should not have to worry about a two going in, the one should worry about the two going in and taking the ones spot.”

The defense held on the next series and then Jimmy May intercepted a Dante Nania overthrow to quickly end the fifth drive.

The Penguins ran four-minute situations with both the top and reserve units. The scrimmage was capped off with a two-minute drill. Hess found Bryan again for a 30-yard scoring toss with 31 seconds left on the first try. The defense held the reserve offense out of the end zone when Angle’s desparation pass fell incomplete on the final play of the workout.

Here are some statistics from the first portion of the scrimmage:  PASSING – Hess 7-of-7 for 66 yards and two touchdowns, Angle 6-of-7 for 70 yards and a TD, Nania 3-of-7 for 22 yards and one interception. RUSHING – Thompson 9-81; Cook 8-53; Pace 6-21. RECEIVING – Bryan 3-54, 2 TDs; Berassa 3-23, TD; Andrew Williams 2-22.

YSU returns to the gridiron on Monday for its 12th practice of the spring. Next week the Penguins are slated to hold workouts Monday and Wednesday before Friday’s annual Red-White Spring Game. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

Loyola scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning en route to a 5-1 victory and completed the series sweep of the Youngstown State softball team on Saturday morning.

The Penguins, who have now lost three straight, fall to 21-9-1 overall and 5-4 in the Horizon League while the Ramblers improve to 13-16 overall and 6-3 in the league.

Loyola’s Brittany Gardner picked up her third win of the series, striking out seven Penguins and allowing just five hits.

The Guins attemped a rally loading the bases in the top of the seventh on single by  Sarah Gabel and two hit batters. Senior Amanda Palmore reached on an error to score Gabel for the only YSU run.

A lineout double play and a strikeout ended the Penguins threat.

The Guins return to action against St. Bonaventure, Wednesday, April 11, at 3 p.m.

Freshman Kayla Haslett scattered seven hits in an impressive complete-game outing and clobbered a pair of home runs with her bat to lift the Youngstown State softball team to a 7-1 victory and a series sweep of Cleveland State on Sunday at McCune Park.

After allowing a run in the top of the first inning, Haslett, settled in and did not allow a Cleveland State runner past second base the rest of the game.

The Penguins, who improve to 19-6-1 overall and 5-1 in the Horizon League, again were added by the long ball to get back in the game.

Senior Kristen Philen, who went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, led off the bottom of the third with a solo homer – her fourth of the year – to left-center field to tie the game at 1-1.

Two battters later, senior Haley Thomas punched a one-out, 3-2 pitch over the left-center field fence to put the Guins ahead 2-1.

A two-out double by senior Jordan Ingalls and an RBI-single by junior Vicky Rumph added a third run for YSU in the bottom of the third.

The Penguins expanded their lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth with two bases-loaded walks and a sacrifice fly by Ingalls.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Guins tacked on one more to close out the scoring. Philen led off with a single and was replaced by pinch runner Kelly Fox. Fox advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on Brooke Meenachan‘s bunt single and scored on a throwing error.

Brian Campbell‘s Penguins host Saint Francis (Pa.) in a doubleheader, Tuesday, April 3, at 3 p.m. at McCune Park.

Butler scored four runs before recording an out in the first inning and stayed hot offensively all afternoon to defeat the Youngstown State baseball team 18-5 in the series finale on Sunday at Eastwood Field.  After the Penguins held the Bulldogs to one earned run on five hits Saturday, Butler’s offense erupted for 18 earned runs on 18 hits.

Bulldogs designated hitter Pat Gelwicks posted five hits, three runs and three RBIs, and Bob Akin also drove in three. Jason Shirley had three hits and scored twice, and Drew Dosch added two hits for the Penguins.

The first six Bulldog hitters reached base on three singles, two walks and a hit batsman, and that ended the day for YSU starter Pat Shedlock. All five runs in the first were charged to him.

The Penguins got the first two runners on in the bottom of the first, but a strikeout and caught stealing resulted in a double play. Marcus Heath singled in Shirley to make the score 5-1, but the Guins couldn’t put together a big inning to keep pace. YSU had the leadoff runner on in the second and sacrificed him to second and failed to score.

Butler hit three doubles and had a sacrifice fly in the third to go ahead 7-1, and Dosch drove in David Leon for an unearned run in the bottom half of the inning.

The Bulldogs added a run in the fourth to go up 8-2, and they scored six times in the sixth. Craig Goubeaux brought in Shirley on a sacrifice fly, and Dosch scored on an error in the eighth to make the score 14-4. Butler added four more runs to its total in the ninth, and Dosch singled in Jack Graham in the bottom half for the final tally.

Butler starter Mike Hernandez allowed one earned run on six hits in six innings to earn the win for Butler.

Youngstown State will play four road games next week, starting with a game at Pittsburgh on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Kelly Pavlik answered a lot of questions about ring rust and time away, as well as how he would feel fighting back at 170 pounds.  Pavlik (38-2, 33 KO’s) knocked Aaron Jaco down in the first round and kept him down with another sharp left hook just 45 seconds into the second round.  Pavlik connected with a shot that landed flush and sent Jaco into la-la land (above).  The Youngstown native will now hope to have a bigger exposure fight, possibly on ESPN2 in early June.

“I felt terrific tonight”, said Pavlik.  “After I hit him a couple of times, he felt my power and started just trying to throw wildly, and that left him open and a little off balance, and I caught him with a good left hook in the first.”

Pavlik looked very sharp in his first in-ring action in over a year.  The former champion felt fresh and showed little ring rust during the fight.  The impressive performance almost guarantees Pavlik a June date on ESPN.  The Ghost also hinted bigger things to come by the end of September in his quest to regain championship gold.

“I will sign to fight someone in June on ESPN, probably June 8th.  The big one is going to be in September though.  I don’t know who I will be fighting in either fight, but hopefully the one in September will be for a belt.”

The knock on Pavlik the last time he fought was that he looked slow and rusty despite winning.  When asked about ring rust, Pavlik set the record straight.

“There was no rust tonight.  I did everything I set out to do.  My punches felt crisp, back to where they should be.”

Pavlik will return to Youngstown for a couple of weeks and then head back to Oxnard, California around the 17th or 18th of this April to start working for the June fight, which should be announced in a couple of weeks.  Top Rank is itching to get one of their most recognizable stars back in the spotlight, and Pavlik seems ready to accept the chance.  The dominant performance he put on in Texas should do plenty toward both the June and September proposed fights.

“I hit him [Jaco] with two very clean shots, two left hooks that sent him down twice.  It was the best I have felt in the ring in a very long time and I look forward to getting back to it and preparing for what comes next.”

Granted, Aaron Jaco is not a household boxing name, but he was 15-2 entering the fight, so he had to do something right although his opposition had never been the likes of a Kelly Pavlik.  The fight accomplished exactly what Pavlik and trainer Robert Garcia wanted it to, showed the world that he still has ‘it’ and wants more of ‘it’.