April 26, 2008 | Game One Box | Game Two Box

Swenson's Fourth League Win Lifts Penguins to Doubleheader Split

    Lorain, Ohio -- Aaron Swenson earned his fourth complete game victory, and Youngstown State got a clutch two-run double by Erich Diedrich to defeat Cleveland State 9-7 in game two of Saturday's doubleheader.
    The Penguins rallied from a five-run deficit in game one but ultimately fell 9-8 in the bottom of the ninth. With today's doubleheader split, the Penguins and Vikings remain tied for third place in the Horizon League standings.
    Swenson improved to 4-0 against league opponents, and he's gone the distance in each of those wins. Aside from a rough stretch in the third and fourth innings, the sophomore right-hander was dominant once again.
    He finished allowing all seven runs on 12 hits, but he struck out 10 and walked just one. Six of the seven runs and seven of the 12 hits came in the third and fourth.
    C.J. Morris also had three hits and three RBIs for the Penguins in game two.

    The Penguins led 5-0 in before Cleveland State scored six straight to take a 6-5 lead. Joe Iacobucci gave the Penguins the lead in the first when he singled home Josh Page, and Morris and Page had RBI singles in the second. Morris then came up big again in the third with a two-out, two-run single in the third that gave YSU a five-run advantage.
    Alex Kerins hit a three-run homer to right center in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to two, and the Vikings scored three runs on five hits in the fourth to take the lead. Josh Geric led off with a homer, and Bobby Cash followed up John Brown's double with an RBI single. Adam Heideman then brought home Tom Carter on a two-out single.
    The Penguins tied the game in the seventh when Anthony Porter singled home Diedrich, and Diedrich came up with the big hit in the eighth. Cory Hornyak hit a one-out single to start the momentum, and Page reached on an error. After Sean Lucas was hit by a pitch to set the table, and Diedrich doubled to deep left center to give the Penguins back the lead.
    Jason Reitenbach scored an insurance run in the ninth when he was hit by a pitch and scored when Morris' single to center got past centerfielder Brad Buell.
    Cleveland State got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but Swenson got Kerins to pop out to preserve the win.
    Drew Fronczek was tagged with the loss, allowing one run on two hits in 1.2 innings.

    In game one Cleveland State ended YSU's rally in the top of the ninth with a hidden ball trick, then scored the game-winner in the bottom half to win 9-8.
    Cleveland State led 8-3 before the Penguins scored three runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to tie it. YSU had runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth and leadoff hitter Page at the plate when the Vikings pulled the Little League move.
    In the bottom half, Kerins led off with a double to left and scored when third baseman Lucas threw wildly to first on a bunt.
    YSU led 2-0 early before Cleveland State scored six straight runs - three in the fourth and three in the sixth - to take a 6-2 lead. The Penguins got a run across in the seventh to get within three, but the Vikings answered right back with two runs in the bottom half to go up 8-3.
    In the eighth, Eric Marzec scored when Hornyak's grounder to short was bobbled, and Tom Clayton scored on Page's sacrifice fly. David Leon then cut the margin to two when he scored on Lucas' bloop single to left center.
    Leon cut the margin to one on a fielder-s choice in the ninth, and Hornyak's single to right brought in Marzec with the game-tying run.
    The Penguins scored two runs in the third when Page singled home John Koehnlein and Diedrich brought in Page.
    In the fourth, Kerins doubled to start the inning and scored one batter later when Kyle Bischof homered to right. Bobby Cash then hit a two-out double and scored on a throwing error.
    CSU then plated three runs on five hits in the sixth as John Brown scored on Cash's single, and Tom Carter and Brad Buell had two-out run-scoring hits.
    After Lucas singled home Koehnlein in the seventh to make the score 6-3, CSU got runs on Brown's sacrifice fly and a balk in the bottom half.
    Craig Gillet was charged with the loss as he came on to pitch the ninth. Fronczek got the win for Cleveland State in game one, allowing one hit in two-thirds of an inning.
    The Penguins will play at Kent State on Wednesday at 3 p.m.