April 18, 2013
Box Score
CANFIELD, Ohio - Brittany Gardner tossed her sixth shutout of the season and four Ramblers had two hits each as Loyola University Chicago (20-13, 8-2 Horizon) rolled to a 6-0 victory at Youngstown State (10-18, 4-6 Horizon) this afternoon at McCune Park. With the victory, the Ramblers extend their Horizon League winning streak to eight games, their longest hot streak since 2002 when they rattled off 10 consecutive conference wins.
Loyola capitalized on some early Youngstown State errors as the Penguins committed four miscues in the first three innings. In the first inning, Jessica Balzano reached on a one-out bunt single and would come around to score on an error by YSU shortstop Kelly Stowe and the Ramblers threw another run on the board in the third when Tarran Shaffer scampered home from third on an error by catcher Vicky Rumph.
The game would stay a two-run contest until the fifth when Hannah Jenkins, who was running for Shaffer, who had led off the inning with a double, scooted home on Annie Korth's RBI single. Later in the frame, Balzano worked a bases-loaded walk from Youngstown State reliever Hana Somogyi to force in a run and Lauren Moore's fielder's choice plated the final tally in a three-run inning as the Ramblers extended the lead to 5-0.
Freshman Brie Pasquale claimed sole possession of the Loyola record for home runs by a freshman when she mashed her eighth roundtripper of the year to lead off the sixth to finish off the scoring barrage.
Gardner, who scattered four hits total and only two through the first six innings, collected her 11th win of the season. The lefthander struck out five and now needs seven strikeouts to match Kari Klier's career record at Loyola (535).
Seven Loyola starters recorded a hit, with four players tallying a pair of base knocks to lead an 11-hit attack. Brooke Andresen, Balzano, Shaffer, and Korth posted two hits apiece.
