AU Baseball Gets Back on Track with Two Wins at Youngstown State
April 17, 2005

By Paul Carmany, AU Sports Information

Complete Box Scores
Game 1         Game 2

Playing on the home field of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, the Ashland University baseball team snapped a six-game losing skid with a pair of scrappy efforts. The Eagles came from behind in both contests on Sunday (Apr. 17) to post a 3-2 win in nine innings and an 8-5 win over Youngstown State.

The pair of victories improves AU’s overall record to 23-13. The Penguins fall to 18-15.

In the opener, Youngstown State got on the board first, just as it had in both games Saturday afternoon. They touched up AU starter Josh Davidson for a run on three hits in the bottom of the second inning.

Ashland responded in the top of the third, as a sacrifice fly by Ron Oneson scored David Waters and tied the game at 1.

The Penguins again scored a single tally in the bottom of the third before AU answered in the top of the fourth with one of their own. Davidson scored on a passed ball in an inning that saw YSU commit a pair of errors.

Davidson and Penguin hurler Eric Shaffer then took control of the game. Neither team would score another run until the top of the ninth inning.

In that decisive inning, AU was once again aided by some poor defensive execution by the Penguins. Davidson led off the inning with a single. He then advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a throwing error by Shaffer.

Davidson pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, wrapping up a 3-2 victory for the Eagles. The sophomore improved to 4-3 with the victory, pitching a complete-game five-hitter and striking out nine. Shaffer dropped to 3-6 with the setback.

Allen Ayers and Davidson had two hits apiece for Ashland in the first game.

In the nightcap, Youngstown State scored a pair of unearned runs off of Eagle hurler Lek Cole in the bottom of the first.

YSU held that 2-0 lead until the top of the third. That inning included a triple by Jim Barry, a double by Waters and a two-run single by Oneson.

Ashland would then score single tallies in the fifth and sixth innings before a three-run explosion in the top of the seventh. Meanwhile, Cole kept the high-powered Youngstown State offense off of the board, enabling the Eagles to carry an 8-2 advantage into the bottom of the seventh.

The Penguins began the seventh with a double, a single and a home run off of Cole, slicing the AU lead in half. Ryan Petrich was summoned from coach John Schaly’s bullpen and retired the next three Penguins in order to earn his second save.

Cole was the winning pitcher, improving to 6-1. Lucas Engle fell to 2-1 for YSU.

Oneson went 3-for-4 with a double and 3 RBI for AU. Waters and Troy Reeder each had two hits, a double and two runs scored. Adam Wilson also scored twice for the Eagles.

Ashland will now return home to face Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) foe Hillsdale Wednesday afternoon (Apr. 20) at 2 p.m. The Chargers are 11-19 overall and 8-12 in conference play. The Eagles swept a doubleheader at Hillsdale on Apr. 6, 12-5 and 7-3.