The Emporia State baseball team came up short in an 11-1 loss in seven innings to #5 Pittsburg State in the MIAA Tournament final on Saturday at Wendell Simmons Field in Edmond, Okla. The Gorillas jumped in front 6-0 through four innings before Logan Myers launched a solo homer in the fifth inning to get the Hornets on the board, but ESU didn’t score again and the Gorillas added three in the sixth and two in the seventh to secure the run-rule victory. E-State was outhit 16-2 in the game as Jake Khasaempanth (3-2) took the loss on the bump. ESU is 37-15 and came into the week ranked ninth in the Central Region rankings. The Hornets must now await their NCAA Tournament fate as the NCAA will announce the field on the Selection Show, Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Pittsburg, PA
Penguins Rookies Shine; Avery Hayes & Ben Kindel Fill the Net in Win
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tommy Novak shoveled Egor Chinakhov’s rebound for a hard-fought goal, and frustrations over officiating and scoring chances denied melted away. Novak was the only Pittsburgh Penguins (29-15-12) goal scorer who was not a rookie.
And the Penguins hit the Olympic break with a well-earned 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres (32-19-6) at Key Bank Center.
Avery Hayes scored a pair of impressive goals. Important ones, too.
Second shift. First career shot. First NHL goal. The perfect storm of Penguins’ injury (Rickard Rakell), illness (Noel Acciari), and personal absence (Blake Lizotte) created a need for the Penguins to make a recall just hours before the game. The organization chose the scrappy Hayes to make his NHL debut, and they were handsomely rewarded.
Midway through the first period, Hayes chased a bouncing puck in the offensive zone and zipped past defenseman Jacob Bryson for a short breakaway. Hayes (1) showed a healthy burst of speed past Bryson for the puck and whipped it past Buffalo goalie Alex Lyon at 9:17 of the first period for a 1-1 tie.
The goal changed the game as the sputtering Penguins sprang to life.
Hayes had unfinished business. Second career shot, second career goal.
Later in the first period, Hayes flashed more speed by chipping the puck into the offensive zone and racing past everyone to take possession. He worked the puck behind the net for Anthony Mantha, who snapped a pass back to Hayes, who was charging toward the net.
Hayes (2) roofed a tight-angle one-timer past Lyon at 18:47 for a 2-1 Penguins lead.
Ben Kindel also scored a pair of goals.
The Penguins’ goals were exclusively from rookies through the first 40 minutes. Early in the second period, Kindel stole the puck at the defensive blue line, launching himself on a two-on-one with Justin Brazeau.
Kindel (13) unleashed a particularly wicked wrister for the near post and past Lyon at 7:44 of the second period for the unassisted goal and a 3-1 lead.
Kindel (14) also scored the empty-netter with 13 seconds remaining.
The Penguins started well, but one little mistake quickly turned into an early deficit. Penguins winger Egor Chinakhov carried the puck too long and was stripped of possession at the red line. Buffalo quickly countered, and former Penguins winger Jason Zucker (15) sniped a far-corner shot over Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs at 1:46 of the first period.
However, the Buffalo power plays continued, and Buffalo made their fourth chance count when Tage Thompson put a quarter in the piggy bank, snapping a tight-angle shot into the small space above Silovs’s shoulder and beneath the crossbar at 1:55 of the third to cut the Penguins’ lead to 3-2.
At the time, it was Buffalo’s fourth power play, compared to just one for the Penguins, despite some opportunities for referees Mike Sullivan and Jake Brenk to even the chances.
The Penguins ended with three power play chances after Peyton Krebs ran over Silovs in the third period, an act for which he received a minor penalty and some heavy right hands from defenseman Connor Clifton after the pair dropped the gloves.
Buffalo ended with five power plays, including an advantage in the final 90 seconds when Anthony Mantha was called for hooking.
Silovs stopped 25 of 27. Lyon stopped 27 of 31 before being pulled for the extra attacked.
Penguins Notes
The team played without Rakell and Blake Lizotte. Rakell was out with a lower-body injury, which coach Dan Muse termed day-to-day. Lizotte is with his wife, attending the birth of their first child.
Avery Hayes was the 12th rookie to play for the Penguins this season. That figure leads the NHL.
Since the Sabres fired GM Kevyn Adams, the team was 20-3-1 entering the game Thursday.
Categorized:Penguins Postgame
Kennywood honored two longtime employees Saturday who together have worked at the park for a combined 100 years.
Larry Russ and Bobby Trygar started working at Kennywood in 1976.
Russ began his Kennywood career as a games employee, working at the Big Apple dart game. In 1980, Russ applied to the security team and has held positions there ever since, including roles as a corporal, lieutenant, chief, and captain, according to a press release provided by the park.
Trygar began his time at Kennywood by working in the Parkside Café. Since he joined Kennywood, he has helped to maintain some of the park’s most iconic attractions, including the Racer, Log Jammer, and Merry Go Round.
“This is something you dream about. It’s so amazing,” Trygar said. “One of the best things when I worked out here was when I met my wife on the Racer. I was the mechanic. It’s just a great feeling to come here every day, see smiles on people’s faces, it’s tremendous. It gives you that extra boost and happiness.”
“I was planning on going into the mill, like everyone else was during my era,” Russ said. “Of course, the mill shut down. My father told me, ‘You don’t want to [work at the mill]. This place isn’t going to be here that much longer,’ and he was right, so I stuck it out here. I got a full-time position in 1980, and the rest is history.”
The park also dedicated two benches in their honor.
The new policy requiring anyone under 18 to be accompanied by someone over 21 in Market Square may not be as firm as some first thought.
KDKA observed unaccompanied kids in and around the square in Pittsburgh on Saturday evening, but in very small numbers, especially compared to the hundreds of kids who gathered as recently as during the NFL draft last month. Many of the kids were walking through the square or to restaurants like Chipotle.
It was the kids who lingered on Saturday evening who were approached by either youth outreach teams, private security or officers.
Von Madden — the founder of AIM, a youth outreach group — said it’s when kids start gathering in large numbers that they’ll be asked to leave.
“I don’t think they are going to be kicked out of the space for buying food or walking by,” Madden said. “The policy was so they’re allowed to hang out, but if they’re causing disruption, they were asked to move.”
Outreach workers within the square on Saturday evening said they’ve been approaching kids to make sure they are aware of the rules, but aren’t forcing them to leave. Some workers suggested alternative places they could go, as they work to form relationships with the kids
Madden, who was not at the square on Saturday, said in theory, enforcement works by private security engaging kids first, and then if that doesn’t work, outreach staff comes over. Only as a last resort are police officers brought in.
KDKA watched as a group of about 15 to 20 kids formed along Market Street steps away from a police SUV on Saturday evening. A member of the private security approached the kids first, pointing toward the exit of the square. Once more kids gathered, a group of five to 10 officers walked over, and the group dispersed toward Liberty Avenue.
A group of teenagers near Chipotle told KDKA that officers told them they had to leave if they weren’t actually going to the restaurant. Madden said the policy, which is in effect from Thursday to Sunday from 3 p.m to midnight, has worked well this week.
“It was phenomenal. Thursday was great,” Madden said. “The kids came, a lot of kids. They were absolutely excited about everything going on.”
Thursday was the first night for the temporary roller rink in Market Square, and a rainy Friday kept many people away. People enjoying their Saturday evening in the square gave mixed reviews about the policy.
“I think it’s definitely necessary,” Cristina from Butler told KDKA. “It keeps the community safe, and it allows adults and parents to know that their kids are safe as well, and just a more controlled environment.”
Danielle Graham from Robinson said she’d been observing kids interacting with police and believes kids aren’t welcome in Market Square, even if they are not being disruptive. She said there was a discrepancy in what private security and officers knew about the rule, adding that police asked her if the child she was chaperoning was her legal guardian.
She said she offered to chaperone kids to allow them to enjoy the square and so she could observe what was going on.
“There’s no clear understanding from the people that are supposedly enforcing it,” Robinson said. “You just put more vulnerable kids in front of law enforcement, things can go wrong.”
Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Barb Warwick shared her own criticism of the policy during a meeting last week.
“Not only does this feel highly unwelcoming to families with teens, it also seems questionable in terms even of enforcement,” Warwick said. “I don’t know that there’ll be like a private security, what are we checking IDs like, you know? How is this working? My understanding is it’s on an event permit.”
KDKA-TV did not observe any IDs being checked on Saturday and saw at most 12 officers in the square at once, along with the private security.
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