The Youngstown State baseball team will enter the 2012 Horizon League Baseball Championship as the No. 6 seed and play No. 3 Milwaukee on Wednesday at 5 p.m. EST at UIC’s Les Miller Field in Chicago.

The Penguins finished the regular season with a 9-42 overall record and a 7-23 mark in Horizon League play. Milwaukee garnered the No. 3 seed with its 26-25 overall record and 18-11 ledger in conference games. The Panthers won their final eight conference games of the regular season, including a sweep of Wright State in the season’s final weekend. UWM won five of the six meetings against Youngstown State during the regular season. Two of those UWM victories were by one run.

Valparaiso, which swept the Penguins over the weekend, will be the tournament’s No. 1 seed and will earn a first-round bye. The Crusaders won 18 of their final 21 league contests and have won 24 of their last 28 games. Wright State, which went 36-19 overall and 20-10 in league play, will also receive a bye as the No. 2 seed.

No. 4 UIC, which finished 19-32 overall and 12-17 in league play, will play fifth-seeded Butler (22-32, 10-20) in the first game of the tournament on Wednesday at noon Eastern.

If YSU wins its opening round against Milwaukee, it will play No. 1 Valparaiso on Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern. If the Penguins lose their first game on Wednesday, they will play an elimination game against the loser between UIC and Butler on Thursday at 11 a.m. Eastern.

All games throughout the tournament will be shown live on the Horizon League Network.

When I talked with Kelly Pavlik about writing an article focusing on athletes dealing with adversity, he could have easily dodged the conversation knowing I would have had a million other things to ask him.  However, the former champion embraced the idea and gave me very honest and well-thought out answers.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Pavlik shocked the boxing world and pulled himself up nearing a ten-count to storm back and beat Jermaine Taylor.  Many years later, Pavlik has found himself trying to get up from a different ten-count, the soap opera that his life was becoming.  Pavlik couldn’t sneeze and wipe his nose properly before one of his many critics would verbally insult him.

After the first Taylor victory (he beat him twice), Pavlik couldn’t walk into a bar where people would not be lined up waiting for their chance to buy the new champ a drink. The new champ, by the way, was barely of legal drinking age.  Most guys his age have the same trips and frequent the same places, they just don’t take the same criticism for doing any of it.

After a loss to Bernard Hopkins, Pavlik may have turned to the bottle for comfort to ease his mind.  Still not 25 years old, the pressure associated with the fame he was garnering might stress any mortal out a bit.  After this loss, the bar crowd, some of the die hard fans who rode his coattails, and even people he thought he could trust started yapping about what a big problem Pavlik had, how he was just an alcoholic, or how his best days were behind him.

“You really learn a lot about your friends and family during a period like that”, said Pavlik.  “People you thought you could trust, people you thought had your back no matter what, you hear things and are shocked to hear where others got their information, and it isn’t even accurate most of the time.”

Pavlik has faced plenty of adversity included a well-documented trip to rehab, a family squabble with his brother, a bitter separation from longtime trainer Jack Loew, and everybody running their mouth as fast as they could about what the former champions next gaffe would be.

So how does The Ghost deal with these issues?

“Adversity is a tough thing, really tough”, commented Pavlik.  “Everyone will have something in their life that they need to deal with, and we all know I have had my share.  Getting through the tough times are something you have to find within yourself.  I did a lot of soul searching these past couple of years and what matters most to me are my wife and kids, my family, and my friends.  For those fans that have stuck by my side, I am truly grateful and hope to make them happy again real soon.”

Pavlik still considers Youngstown home, but is now training under Robert Garcia in California.  He has a fight coming up on ESPN in just a couple of weeks against someone who typifies exposing the adversity of someone else when they are down.  Scott “Cujo” Sigmon (22-3, 12 KO’s) has drawn the ire of Pavlik with his tireless self-promoting rants on Facebook and to any media outlet that would listen.

“He made this personal, and I wanted this fight really bad.  I don’t think he has been in the ring with a fighter of my caliber yet and I am going to show up ready, I really want to shut him up live and in-person.  He is going to feel it when I hit him.”

As Pavlik trains for the fight, rumors are already circulating that with a good performance, The Ghost can look forward to a big-time fight in September or October either on HBO or on a Pay-Per-View card.  He returned to California a couple of weeks early to start training and to promote himself as a rekindled spirit in a sport that buries itself in adversity.

“I have made some mistakes and I am in a much better place in my life right now.  I feel great and I am rededicated to the sport of boxing.  I will be making a lot of noise in the near future and I can’t wait to prove my critics wrong again.”

Youngstown State Head Coach Brian Campbell was deemed the 2012 Horizon League Coach of the Year in a vote by the league’s head coaches, the league announced on Tuesday (May 8).

Campbell, who is in his fourth season at Youngstown State, guided the Penguins to their most overall wins since 2004 with 28 victories. He led the Penguins to a seven-win improvement in Horizon League play with a record of 12-10, and YSU’s fourth-place finish was four spots higher than the league’s coaches predicted in the preseason. Last season, YSU placed eighth with a 5-16 Horizon League record.

Coach Campbell enjoys his position with the Penguins and has really started to carve out his legacy as a winner.  The girls always hustle and have a good mix of hitting and pitching that pushed the 2012 version of Lady Penguins softball over the top.

Congratulations Coach Campbell on a great season!

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are proud to announce their most action packed promotional schedule in team history.  Highlighting the 2012 schedule will be seven post-game fireworks shows, five giveaway nights highlighted by a Jason Kipnis bobblehead giveaway on August 18 and celebrity appearances by Days of Our Lives Star “Brady Black” on July 28 and wresting superstars Matt Hardy and Carlito for a post-game wrestling show on July 29. The 2012 New York-Penn League All-Star Game will also be held at Eastwood Field for the first time on August 14.

Every Monday Matters presented by Grace Fellowship Church.  Bring a donation of new books, non-perishable food items, or clothing for a free ticket to the game.

$2 Tuesdays presented by Pepsi, Handel’s Ice Cream and Hershey’s. Fans can enjoy $2 hot dogs, 16 oz. drinks, appetizers and ice cream sandwiches all game long.

Military Wednesdays presented by Carter Lumber.  Show a Military ID at the Scrappers box office for 2 free box seat game tickets.

Thursday Buck Nights presented by PNC Bank.  Fans can enjoy $1 General Admission tickets, hot dogs and 12 oz. drinks throughout the game.

Fridays feature a Post-Game Fireworks Extravaganza presented by 21 WFMJ and WBCB.

Saturdays include the Scrappers Night Live Series, with a live performance or entertainment act each Saturday Night presented by House Medic.

Sundays are Family Fun Days presented by Vlad Pediatrics. Come out and enjoy family friendly entertainment all game long.  Be sure to stick around for post-game kids run the bases after each game.

 

Sophomore Casey Crozier (above) scattered seven hits and struck out six, but the Youngstown State softball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Butler in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament at the Valparaiso Softball Field.

Crozier was out-dueled by Butler’s Leah Bry, who allowed just three hits to the league’s top offense and struck out four.

Senior Jordan Ingalls, junior Caroline Krombach and sophomore Sarah Ingalls each collected hits for the Penguins.

The Penguins fall to 28-20-1 and will play the loser of the No. 6 Green Bay-No. 2 Loyola contest, Thursday, at 5 p.m. (EDT). The Bulldogs improve to 24-30 and advance to play top-seeded Valparaiso, Thursday, at Noon (EDT).

Butler’s Erin Falkenberry hit a solo home run in the top of the second and that is all the offense Bry needed.

The Bulldogs added runs in the top of the fourth and top of the seventh to seal the victory.

Bruce Zoldan and his comrades at Team Valor are in the big race again with Went The Day Well.  The Team Valor entry will start from the #13 position and Johnny Velazquez riding the 20-1 longshot with the local ties.  Last year, Team Valor pulled the upset at the 137th Kentucky Derby when Animal Kingdom crossed the finish line first.

Bodemeister has been tapped the 4-1 favorite to win the first leg of this year’s Triple Crown.  Union Rags can almost be considered a co-favorite at 9-2.  With a field of 20 horses, the gamblers must remember that unless a favorite can go wire-to-wire, it is easy to get boxed in with such a crowded track.  That is why I do not like to bet the chalk in these big races.  They are all good horses and their times are not that different.  The possibility of rain is in the forecast, and on a sloppy track, a mule can beat a gazelle, you just never know what might happen.

Here is the entire field, with jockey and odds in the order of starting gate position:

1.  Daddy Long Legs (O’Donahue)               30-1

2.  Optimizer  (Court)                                  50-1

3.  Take Charge Indy (Borel)                        15-1

4.  Union Rags (Leparoux)                            9-2

5.  Dullahan (Desormeaux)                           8-1

6.  Bodemeister (Smith)                                4-1

7.  Rousing Sermon (Lezcano)                    50-1

8.  Creative Cause (Rosario)                        12-1

9.  Trinniberg (Martinez)                             50-1

10.  Daddy Nose Best (Gomez)                    15-1

11.  Alpha (Maragh)                                    15-1

12.  Prospective (Conteras)                         30-1

13.  Went The Day Well (Velazquez)            20-1

14.  Hansen (Dominguez)                           10-1

15.  Gemologist (Castellano)                        6-1

16.  El Padrino (Bejarano)                           20-1

17.  Done Talking (Russell)                        50-1

18.  Sabercat (Nakatani)                             30-1

19.  I’ll Have Another (Gutierrez)                12-1

20.  Liaison (Garcia)                                   50-1

The best way for me to deal with such a big field is to eliminate the horses I do not like.  Starting with I’ll Have Another, who would bet a horse with a drinking problem?    Hanson was my least favorite 90’s band – whack the 14 for association by name, sort of.  Take Charge Indy sounds like it should be in a NASCAR race, not the Derby.  Liaison, Gemologist, and Sabercat were all named from someones thesaurus, so I eliminate them.

Earlier, I made it clear that in a crowded field, I dislike the favorites, so Bodemeister and Union Rags can’t be in my picks.

My pick to win the race is Dullahan.  I like Desormeaux on the horse, he is a good jockey with a good record.  I think Went The Day Well and Daddy Nose Best will finish two and three, either way.

So your bet should read….  5 over the 13 and 10 in boxed exacta and trifecta wagers.  See you at the window!

Despite future YSU Hall-of-Famer, Haley Thomas, ending her home career as a Lady Penguin with a home run, very little went right for the Youngstown State softball team on Thursday.  The Penguins dropped a pair of games to Robert Morris, 8-0, and 12-4.

With the two losses, YSU fell to 27-18-1 on the season.  Robert Morris improved to 33-20, as both teams prepare for tournament play.

Senior Jordan Ingalls, junior Caroline Krombach, Thomas, and sophomore Courtney Ewing each collected two hits for the Penguins. Thomas also drove in two runs.

Youngstown State was hurt by two errors in Robert Morris’ eight-run sixth inning that expanded a 4-3 lead to a 12-3 advantage.  After the Colonials scored two unearned runs in the top of the first, Samantha Snodgrass singled in Ingalls to cut the deficit to 2-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, Thomas singled home Ewing to get the Guins within 3-2, but the Colonials answered with a run the top of the fifth to take a 4-2 lead.

Kristen Philen got YSU back to 4-3 with a double to center field that plated Snodgrass.

In the opener, Youngstown State was limited to just four hits – a double by Thomas and singles by Snodgrass, Philen and Ewing.

The Penguins close out the regular season with a three-game series against Green Bay, May 5-6, in Green Bay, Wis.

 

Youngstown State’s Jeremy Banks and Blake Aquadro have been named the Horizon League Baseball Players of the Week for the period of April 23-29, the conference office announced on Monday.

Banks earned Batter-of-the-Week accolades for the third time this season while Aquadro picked up Pitcher-of-the-Week honors for the first time in his career. Both players played a big part in YSU’s first-ever series sweep of UIC over the weekend.

Banks batted .636 with seven hits in 11 at bats in three games for YSU, reaching base at least twice in each game. He had three RBIs in YSU’s 11-3 win on Friday and added three more in YSU’s 9-0 win in the series finale. Banks was 4-for-4 in the finale and recorded his 200th career hit with an eighth-inning single. Despite missing 14 games with an injury, Banks ranks among the top five in the Horizon League in doubles and RBIs and is sixth in home runs. His .400 batting average, .657 slugging percentage and .492 on-base percentage are tops among all league players with more than 100 at bats.

Aquadro pitched the Penguins’ first nine-inning complete-game shutout since 2004 against UIC on Sunday. The junior southpaw scattered eight hits and struck out three while throwing 144 pitches. Only one of the Flames’ hits went for extra bases.

Youngstown State will try to remain hot when it plays Pittsburgh on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Eastwood Field.

Jake Giuriceo faced  his toughest competition to date Saturday and stepped up to the plate in a big way.  Juan “Chago” Santiago (14-9-1) had plenty of big-fight experience under his belt, including capturing, and losing, the WBC Latino Super Lightweight title.  Giuriceo scored a unanimous eight-round decision over Santiago proving his escalation to a higher level was warranted.  It was by far, Giuriceo’s most complete fight in a long time.

“I felt awesome tonight.  I felt like everything we ever worked on in all of my training camps came out tonight”, said Giuriceo.  “I felt like I threw great punches.  It is awesome that we can move up in competition .  The boxing part was there, I was blocking punches and moving good.  What me and Keith [Burnside] worked on coming into this fight was throwing punches that count and not wasting any.”

In the first round, Giuriceo controlled the pace of the fight.  He showed the superior ring-general capabilities, and although he took a few shots, he landed many more, including a nice five-punch flurry on the ropes about two minutes into the round.

The second round featured Giuriceo mixing up his targets.  He would start out with a glove to each side of Santiago’s body and then hit him with a hook.  Santiago was taking and giving, but through two – Giuriceo, with slight blood showing in his mouth, was doing most of the giving.

The third was an even toe-to-toe slugfest that neither fighter backed away from the other’s punches.  Santiago landed a couple of uppercuts and used a good jab throughout the round.  Giuriceo continued to pound the body and throw the big hooks. It was a round that may have went Santiago’s way.

Giuriceo hurt Santiago in the fourth with a strong left hook knocking the former champion into the ropes.  The Bull definitely scored well throughout the round, maybe his best of the fight.

The pace of the fight slowed slightly in the fifth as both fighters were starting to show signs of fatigue.  Giuriceo finished the round strong enough to claim it.   Giuriceo nailed Santiago with a good combination in the sixth round that stopped Santiago in his tracks.  Santiago’s corner kept screaming for their fighter to attack claiming that Giuriceo was hurt.  Santiago listened and paid a price each time he came forward.

In the seventh round, Giuriceo finished strong.  Give Santiago credit, he was still fighting too.  Giuriceo earned the round though, as ‘The Bull’, was fighting his style of fight, and winning, convincingly.

In the eighth and final round, the two fighters used about all they had left in the tank.  Giuriceo looked fresher than Santiago did, and his punches were still crisp.

“”When I was working with Frankie [Duarte], we were focusing on getting more boxing skills”, admitted Giuriceo.  “The boxing figured in tonight, but it all really came together.  The Bull showed up tonight.”

The judges scored the fight 79-73, 80-72, 79-73, all in favor of Giuriceo (16-0-1), who cleared his biggest hurdle to date in front of Roy Jones Jr., who may extend the olive branch to some potential promoters.

“I was trying to move a little out there tonight hoping that he [Jones] would see me and hoping that maybe he will give me a call”, said Giuriceo.  “The Lord has blessed me with opportunities.”

“Jake fought a great fight, we didn’t waste punches in there tonight”, claimed Keith Burnside, Giuriceo’s trainer.  “This kid [Santiago] was tough.  His losses are to very good fighters.  Jake stepped it up, but there is still work to do.  He is getting better each fight and we are going to come back stronger.”

The Bull is headed to the chapel to get married in a few weeks, that is his next step.  After the honeymoon, he will get back to business and Joe Corvino, his manager, will carefully plan his next step with the whole team.

*All photos, Courtesy of Ron Stevens

The Youngstown State men’s tennis team was upset by sixth-seeded Butler on Friday during the first day of action at the Horizon League Championships at North Central High School. The Penguins lost 4-2 to the Bulldogs.

YSU was the third seed in the event and had knocked off Butler for the first time last Sunday in Youngstown.

The Bulldogs jumped on top 1-0 after victories at No. 1 and No. 3 singles. YSU won at No. 2 as Rodrigo Campos and Victor Theorin defeated Tommy Marx and Zach Ervin.

In singles play, the Penguins earned a stright set win at No. 3 at Dawoud Kabli (above) defeated Ervin 6-2, 6-0. At No. 5, Campos beat Billy Weldon 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 for the Guins’ other singles victory.

Butler won in three sets at No. 1 and No. 6 and won in straight sets at No. 4. At No. 4, Max Schmerin lost 6-3, 6-2 to Pulok Bhattacharya. At No. 1, senior Tariq Ismail split the first two sets with Austin Woldmoe before dropping the third. Ismail dropped the opening set 6-1 before rebounding to win the second 7-5. Woldmoe won the third and deciding set 6-1.

At No. 6, Zeeshan Ismail forced a third set against Stephen McLoughlin, but came up short. McLoughlin won the first set 6-4 before Ismail won the second set 6-4. Ismail lost 6-0 in the third set.

At No. 2, Silviu Mistrean was leading Marx 4-6, 6-4, 4-2 when the match was decided.

Butler 4, YSU 2

Singles:
No. 1 – Austin Woldmoe (BU) def. T. Ismail (YSU) 6-1, 5-7, 6-1
No. 2 – Mistreanu (YSU) vs. Tommy Marx (BU) 4-6, 6-4, 4-2
No. 3 – Kabli (YSU) def. Zach Ervin (BU) 6-2, 6-0
No. 4 – Pulok Bhattacharya (BU) def. Schmerin (YSU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 – Campos (YSU) def. Billy Weldon (BU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
No. 6 – Stephen McLoughlin (BU) def. Z. Ismail (YSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0

Doubles:
No. 1 – Austin Woldmoe/Billy Weldon (BU) def. T. Ismail/Kabli (YSU), 8-4
No. 2 – Campos/Theorin (YSU) def. Tommy Marx/Zach Ervin (BU), 8-1
No. 3 – Stephen McLoughlin/Sam O’Neill (BU) def. Mistreanu/Z. Ismail (YSU), 8-5