YSUsports.com - Baseball: Strong Bullpen Effort Leads Penguins to Another Split

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May 15, 2007

Penguins Open Up Season-Ending Road Swing at Akron Today

    Youngstown -- Youngtown State will open up the final week of the regular season in its first road game in a month this afternoon with a 3 p.m. contest against Akron at Lee Jackson Field.
    The Penguins and Zips last played on April 18 when YSU made a frantic four-run rally in the ninth inning but came up one run short in an 8-7 setback. That game was the first of a 16-game homestand for YSU.
    YSU is coming off of a four-game series split with UW-Milwaukee over the weekend, taking the nightcap of both doubleheaders. On Friday, the Penguins overcame a six-run deficit - its largest comeback of the season - to win 9-8 on Tom Clayton's walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth. YSU then played a perfect game in the field and got 3 2/3 scoreless innings from its bullpen in a 4-3 victory on Saturday.
    The series split lifted the Penguins ahead of Cleveland State in the Horizon League standings and into a tie for fourth place with Butler. YSU and Cleveland State will play a four-game series this weekend to conclude the regular season.

Scouting Akron: Akron has lost seven of its nine games played in May, including dropping two of three to Kent State over the weekend. The recent struggles have dropped its record to 21-21after an 18-13 start. Doug McNulty is hitting a team-high .346 for Akron, which is batting .290 as a team. Kurt Davidson has 10 home runs, 15 doubles and 42 RBIs.

Last Time vs. Akron:

Youngstown State scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth but came one run short in an 8-7 loss. The rally came after Akron scored three insurance runs in the top of the ninth and answered two other Penguin comeback attempts. YSU used nine different pitchers in the game and 21 players overall. The Zips led just 4-3 through seven innings before scoring one in the eighth and three more in the ninth to put the game seemingly out of reach. YSU answered with four runs, including a two-run homer by Erich Diedrich.

Koehnlein Keeps Hitting Streak Alive:
Sophomore John Koehnlein batted .556 last week (10-for-18) to up his average to a league-high .436 overall and .456 in Horizon League games. He also posted a hit in all four games this weekend against UW-Milwaukee to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 20 games. On Friday he went a combined 6-for-11 with three runs scored and an RBI against the Panthers. He then went 4-for-7 on Saturday, including a 3-for-4 effort with an RBI and the eventual winning run in game two. Over the 20-game span, Koehnlein is batting .500 (44-for-88), and he has 26 hits in the past 10 games. His current .436 batting average is currently is the highest for a YSU player since the school moved to the Division I level and second to only Roy Myers’ .456 clip in 1966. He has already topped the school hits record by nine, and YSU has at least eight games remaining this season. His current 20-game hitting streak is also the fourth-longest in school history and the second-longest in the Horizon League this season.

Svitak Moves Up Saves Chart:
Senior relief pitcher Andy Svitak was part of both of YSU’s victories over UW-Milwaukee over the weekend. On Friday he threw a scoreless ninth inning and earned the win when the Penguins scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth. He then protected YSU’s one-run lead by did not allowing a baserunner in two innings of work on Saturday to earn his eighth save of the season. That mark ranks second in the Horizon League, and it is the second-highest season total for a Penguin in school history. It was also his 12th career save, which ties him with junior Ryan Sellman for the second-most in school history. He has also pitched in 79 games, which is just three appearances shy of the school record.

Vukovic Solid in Second Start: Freshman pitcher Corey Vukovic improved to 2-0 in starts with his victory over UW-Milwaukee on Saturday. Vukovic allowed three runs on five hits and did not walk a batter in 5 1/3 innings. His last victory came against Pittsburgh on April 4.

First Walk-Off Win: Tom Clayton’s game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth on Friday was YSU’s first walk-off hit of the season. The six-run deficit that YSU overcome was also the largest rally of the season. The previous largest deficit was four runs against Malone on March 28.

Playing Better in the Field: Aside from a rough first inning in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Penguins played solidly in the field over the weekend. Ignoring the first inning, YSU committed just three errors in 35 innings against UW-Milwaukee. In Saturday’s second game, YSU had its first errorless game since April 4 at Pittsburgh. The Penguins are 6-2 when they do not commit an error.