May 12, 2007

Strong Bullpen Effort Leads Penguins to Another Split

    Niles, Ohio -- John Koehnlein had three hits and three relievers combined to throw 3 2/3 scoreless innings to lead Youngstown State to a 4-3 victory over UW-Milwaukee in game two of a Saturday doubleheader at Eastwood Field.
    Starter Corey Vukovic threw 5 1/3 innings before handing the ball over to Ryan Wackerman, Ryan Sellman and Andy Svitak. Svitak, who was honored along with two other seniors in between games, retired all six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings to earn his eighth save.
    Koehnlein also had a hit in the opener to extend his hitting streak to 20 games, which ties him for the fourth-longest in school history with John McAbier's run in 1982.
    The Penguins lost game one 5-3 to split the six-game season series with the Panthers.
    In game two YSU scored three runs on three hits in an error in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. Cleanup hitter Tom Clayton reached on a bunt single and stole second, and Mike Turjanica reached on an error. Lee Bainbridge then ripped an RBI single to right, and Brent Parks brought in Turjanica on a groundout. Koehnlein drove in the final run with a two-out single to right to plate Bainbridge.
    The Panthers got one run on two hits off of Vukovic in the fourth, but Koehnlein hit a leadoff triple in the fifth and scored on Josh Page's sacrifice fly to keep the lead at three.
    UWM scored two runs in the sixth and had runners on second and third with one out before Sellman came in to retire the next two hitters. Anthony made a sliding grab on a liner to second for the second out, and Sellman fielded a grounder and tagged out McCoy to end the inning.
    Sellman and Svitak then mowed down the next nine hitters as the bullpen combined to throw 6 2/3 scoreless in the two games.
    Vukovic got his second win in as many starts for YSU, allowing all three runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. Mike Rauwerdink suffered the complete-game loss for UW-Milwaukee.
    The Penguins had a rough first four innings in game one, falling behind five runs and having two runners thrown out at the plate and another third.
    After UW-Milwaukee scored two runs in the first inning on three hits and three errors, Koehnlein walked to leadoff the first and advanced to third on Josh Page's single. With one out, Koehnlein was gunned at the plate on a double-steal attempt, and starter Andy Hetebreug got a pop out to end the threat.
    The Penguins had two runners on with two outs in the second when UWM centerfielder Ross McCoy nailed Cory Hornyak at the plate on Munoz's single.
    UW-Milwaukee then took a five-run lead in the fourth after Rob Brockel's two-run triple, and YSU had momentum breakers in the fourth and fifth innings when McCoy threw out Hornyak at third on a single and Rob Sullivan was hit running to second by Koehnlein's single.
    The Penguins got on the board in the sixth when Clayton hit a leadoff ground-rule double, advanced on  Turjanica's single and scored two batters later on Hornyak's ground out. Turjanica then scored when Eric Marzec's deep fly to center was dropped.
    Reliever Aaron Swenson got out of a jam in the seventh when the Panthers had runners on second and third with one out, but he went on to retire the next two hitters and six of the last seven to keep the game within reach.
    YSU got within two with a run in the eighth, but a double play hurt the chance for a big inning. Clayton drew a leadoff walk, and reliever Tim Hoy came in to throw a wild pitch and give up a Turjanica single that put runners at the corners. Hoy then got the double play and a pop up to end the inning with a 5-3 lead.
    Chuck Schiffhauer allowed all five runs - four of which were earned - on 10 hits in six innings to suffer the loss. Hetebreug improved his record to 2-2 by allowing three runs on eight hits in seven innings.