May 2, 2007

Page Shines in Field, Batter's Box in YSU's Victory Over Notre Dame College

    Struthers, Ohio -- Josh Page went 4-for-5, accounted for seven runs and turned a triple play in Youngstown State's 20-3 victory over Notre Dame College on Wednesday evening at Cene Park.
    The Penguins posted season-high totals in hits and runs in the game, and they had at least one hit in each inning. Page set career-highs with four RBIs and three runs scored, and he recorded four hits for the third time this season.
    Page and leadoff hitter John Koehnlein combined to go 8-for-10 at the top of the lineup, and Erich Diedrich had two hits in the third spot before being lifted for a pinch runner in the third inning. YSU built a 15-0 lead before the Falcons scored all three of its runs in the top of the seventh.
    Freshman Ryan Dunlap earned his first win in his first collegiate start, allowing just one hit in three scoreless innings. Chuck Schiffhauer, Alex Earley, Ryan Sellman and Andy Svitak all threw one scoreless inning as YSU used seven different hurlers.
    The Guins got three runs on four hits in the first inning as Koehnlein, Page and Diedrich singled to start the inning. After Page scored on Brent Parks' groundout, Tom Clayton singled up the middle to score Diedrich from third to put YSU up 3-0.
    Page drove in Rayce Robinson in the second, and the Penguins blew the game open in the third with five runs on three hits and four straight walks.
    Page tripled to start a five-run fifth, and Clayton hit a solo homer to center in the sixth to make the score 15-0.
    The first two Falcons reached in the sixth on a single and a walk, but Ryan Wackerman came in and got the Penguins out of the inning in two pitches thanks to Page. With runners on first and second, Michael Wilsey hit a looping liner just to the left of second base that Page caught before stepping on second and flipping to first for a triple play.
    Notre Dame scored three runs on five singles in the seventh to climb within 15-3. YSU answered with a four-run seventh highlighted by Mike Turjanica's two-run double to go up 19-3, and Rob Sullivan brought in Anthony Munoz on an infield single in the eighth.
    Dunlap retired the first six batters he faced, and he induced a double play after seventh hitter Josh Bieneman singled up the middle. He ended up facing just nine hitters, struck out two and did not walk a batter.
    Bieneman finished with three of the Falcons' nine hits, and Munoz added three hits in three at bats for the Penguins.
    With his RBI single in the third inning, Diedrich moved into second place in YSU history in career RBI's. He now has 126 in his third season and needs 13 to surpass Jim Lipinski for the school record.
    Koehnlein extended his hitting streak to 13 games, which matches a streak he had earlier in the season. He's hit safely in 36 of YSU's 40 games this season and in 42 of the past 46 dating back to last season.
    Robinson also made his way into the record book by tying the school record for walks in a game by drawing a free pass in his first four plate appearances.
    YSU will open a three-game Horizon League series against UIC at Eastwood Field Friday at 7 p.m.