April 9, 2008

Penguins Starting to Hit Stride With 10-Game Homestand Opening Against Akron

    Youngstown -- Youngstown State opens up a 10-game homestand on Wednesday with a contest against Akron on Wednesday at 3 p.m. The Penguins will look to split the season series with the Zips and continue their recent hot-streak at the plate.
    As a team, YSU is batting .331 as a team through eight games this month and has gone 5-3. With 10 home games coming over the next 12 days, the Penguins have batted .344 overall and won five of seven games at home.
    The Penguins are coming off of a doubleheader split against Toledo on Tuesday. Trailing 6-1 through six innings, the Penguins scored four times in the top of the seventh and had the tying run in scoring position before coming up short. They carried the momentum into game two to win 10-4 behind a school-record-tying eight doubles in the seven-inning affair.
    Chuck Schiffhauer will get the start for YSU, which will try to get revenge from a 4-3 setback against Akron on March 26. If things go to plan Schiffhauer will work two or three innings and hand off to fellow weekend starters Corey Vukovic and Aaron Swenson.

Last Time Versus Akron
    Youngstown State couldn’t come up with enough clutch hits and was hurt by five issued walks in a 4-3 loss at Akron on March 26.
    YSU stranded 10 and went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, which offset a 10-6 edge in hits.    YSU led 2-0 after the third when Cory Hornyak scored on an RBI double from Anthony Munoz in the second, and Tom Clayton’s sacrifice fly brought home Joe Iacobucci in the third.    Freshman Phil Klein retired the first six hitters, but but ran into trouble in the third by walking the first two hitters - both of whom came around to score. The Zips then had three straight hits with two outs in the fourth that put them ahead 4-2.
    The Penguins got within one in the sixth and had the tying runner in scoring position in the ninth.

Penguins Tie School Doubles Record Versus Toledo
    Youngstown State tied the school record for doubles in a game yesterday against Toledo with eight in seven innings. Eric Marzec, Tom Clayton and Josh Page had two each, and Erich Diedrich and Cory Hornyak had one. Four of YSU’s doubles came with two outs in the sixth inning, including a three-run double by Clayton that put the Penguins up 9-4. YSU previously had eight at Kent State on May 7, 2005.

Vukovic Named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week
    Youngstown State sophomore Corey Vukovic was named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week on April 7 after leading YSU to a 6-0 shutout against Valparaiso. Making his first weekend start of the year, he threw seven scoreless innings, scattered six hits, did not issue a walk and matched his career high with seven strikeouts. He did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth inning. He also threw 2.1 scoreless innings of relief in YSU’s 8-7, 14-inning victory over Duquesne earlier in the week. Vukovic has a current record of 1-1 and ranks fifth in the Horizon League with a 3.42 ERA.

Diedrich Hits Milestones, Nearing Others
    Erich Diedrich made two significant advances in his career statistics last week that further cemented him as one of the top hitters in YSU history. With an RBI single in the first inning against Valpo, Diedrich became YSU’s career RBIs leader. He has seven RBIs in 12 games this season and 142 in his career. Diedrich also moved into fifth place on the all-time hits list last week and has 212 in his career. He needs four home runs, 34 total bases and three triples to set all of those career records.

Page Nearing 200 Hits
    With three hits in game two against Toledo yesterday, Josh Page upped his career hit total to 195. With five more, he will become the seventh player in school history to have 200 in his career. After 29 hits as a redshirt freshman, he had a career-high 74 hits as a sophomore, which is the eighth most for a single season in school history. Page had 63 hits as a junior, and he has 29 this season.

Diedrich, Koehnlein Return to Spike Team’s Average
    The Penguins are batting .331 in eight games this month, which coincides with the return of Erich Diedrich and John Koehnlein to the lineup. The pair played in the same game for the first time all season on April 1 against Bowling Green, which YSU won 18-13 with season-high totals in hits and runs. Diedrich is batting .319 since his debut on March 26 against Akron, and Koehnlein is hitting .244. Dating back to March 13, the Penguins are batting .294 as a team.

Starting Rotation Ranking Among League Leaders
    YSU’s weekend rotation of Chuck Schiffhauer, Corey Vukovic and Aaron Swenson all used solid starts against Valpo over the weekend to climb into the top-five in the Horizon League in ERA. Swenson currently ranks third in the league with his 2.79 ERA, Schiffhauer is fourth with a 2.90 and Vukovic’s 3.42 ranks fifth. The trio allowed two earned runs in 23.2 innings of work against the Crusaders last weekend. Schiffhauer allowed one earned run on six hits in 7.2 innings, Vukovic allowed six hits in seven shutout innings, and Swenson allowed one run on seven hits in a complete-game victory. Both Schiffhauer and Vukovic began the season as midweek starters and options out of the bullpen.

Picking Up Pace on the Bases
    Youngstown State has swiped 21 bases in eight games this month after having only 12 through the first 20 games. Ten of those steals came in three games against Valpo, including a season-high five on April 5. The last time the Penguins stole five bases in a game was March 23, 2006 against West Liberty. Sean Lucas has stolen seven bases in the past eight games, John Koehnlein has four, and David Leon and Josh Page have three apiece. The Penguins have 33 as a team, which is only four shy of their total from last season. YSU’s highest total since joining the Horizon League is 51 in 2003.

Marzec Having Memorable Start to Month
    Sophomore Eric Marzec has had a terrific start to the month at the plate and on the mound. He has batted .432 (16-for-37) to raise his average 149 points to .288. In eight games, he has scored nine times, driven in nine runs, and has two more extra-base hits than he had total hits through March (7-5). He has posted three hits in four of the eight contests, and he established career highs with three runs scored against Toledo yesterday and four RBIs against Bowling Green on April 1. Marzec also had the game-winning RBI in the 14th inning against Duquesne on April 2. On the mound, Marzec has not allowed a run in seven innings. He has allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five batters.