Valparaiso, Youngstown State pick up first round wins at Horizon League Baseball Championsip

2011 Baseball Bracket

DAYTON, Ohio – Valparaiso and Youngstown State pick up wins, while Butler and Milwaukee move to the consolation bracket after the first round of the Horizon League Baseball Championship, played at Nischwitz Stadium.

Game 1: (4) Valparaiso 9, (5) Butler 0

No. 4 Valparaiso came out strong at the plate, shutting out fifth-seeded Butler, 9-0, in the first game on Wednesday.  Valpo pounded out 18 singles with every Crusader getting at least one hit in the game.

Valpo got out to an early lead scoring twice in the second inning as Steven Scoby knocked in two batters with a single.  The Crusaders extended their lead with a run in the third by Chris Manning off of a RBI single from Kyle Gaedele.   A huge surge led to six more runs in the fifth inning.

Senior Damon McCormick earned his sixth win of the season, as he pitched just his fifth complete game this year, scattering seven hits, with three strike outs.

Game 2: (6) Youngstown State 4, (3) Milwaukee 2

Milwaukee got the bats going in the ninth inning, but Youngstown State held on to defeat the Panthers, 4-2, after nearly eight scoreless innings in the second game of the tournament.

It was a pitcher’s duel until the eighth inning when Youngstown drew a walk on Joe Lacobucci to force in the game’s first run and send Milwaukee senior Chad Pierce, the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year from the mound.  Pierce finished with 7.1 innings of work, allowing just five hits, striking out seven but walking four on 121 pitches.     

Second team All-league pitcher Phil Klein threw a season-high 140 pitches to get through 8.0 innings, giving up 2 runs, but striking out 10 batters for the Penguins.

Milwaukee cut the deficit in half in the eighth, scoring a pair of runs on a two-out single to center by sophomore Jonathan Capasso, to make it 4-2, but YSU held the to it and walked away with the win.  

On Thursday, The Bulldogs and the Panthers will kick off the action at 11am ET, weather pending.  No. 2 UIC will take on the Crusaders in the 3:05pm game while top-seeded Wright State will play the Penguins in the evening contest, scheduled to begin at 7:05pm.