YSU a pain for Duquesne: Penguins rally, set record

By Pete Mollica

The teams combined for a NCAA-record 14 hit batters and stranded 41 runners.

STRUTHERS — Sophomores C.J. Morris and Eric Marzec came up with big clutch hits in the bottom of the 14th inning and Youngstown State baseball team rallied from behind to defeat Duquesne, 8-7, Wednesday at Cene Park.

The Penguins, who rallied from an early 5-1 deficit to tie the contest and send it to extra innings, trailed 7-5 after the top of the 14th inning when Duquesne’s Mike Carroll ripped a two-run homer that gave the Dukes (11-11) the lead.

YSU rallied in the bottom half of the inning with one out as senior Erich Diedrich hit a bloop single to right to get things started and junior John Koehnlein followed with a single to left.

Morris, who came into the game in the seventh inning to play third base, then ripped a shot down the left field line for a double scoring both Diedrich and Koehnlein.

After pinch hitter Mike Turjanica was hit by a pitch, Marzec, who was a standout in Tuesday’s win over Bowling Green, slapped a pitch in the hole between short and third and Morris scored easily with the winning run.

“That was a total team effort tonight,” said YSU coach Rich Pasquale. “We always kept preaching to them about never giving up and they sure came through today.”

The Penguins (7-15) remained unbeaten at home this year (3-0) and have four more games at home this week, including a 1 p.m. contest today at Eastwood Field against Tiffin.

“I can’t say enough about the job Eric Marzec has done for us, especially these last two games,” Pasquale said. “We brought him in relief for the second straight game and he did an outstanding job. After the 13th inning he told me, ‘Coach I’ve given you everything I had,’ so we had to get him out of there.”

Marzec came on to pitch in the 10th inning and gave the Penguins three strong innings, allowing just three hits and striking out three.

Freshman Matt Tucker, who pitched the 14th and gave up the home run to Carroll, picked up the victory.

“I actually felt better today than I did yesterday,” said Marzec. “My arm felt great and I told coach that I was ready if he needed me.

About the game-winning hit, Marzec said he felt pretty good going up to the plate.

“I’d seen this kid three times and I knew what to expect from him and I just saw that pitch coming right down the middle and I ripped it,” he added.

Danny Brown, the Dukes’ final pitcher, was a side-arm throwing right hander, but the Penguins nailed him for four hits in the final frame.

“I’d seen him before and I knew he was going to pitch me inside,” said Morris.

“I wasn’t looking for anything special, but I knew it was going to be coming inside which made it easy to pull down the line.”

The Penguins’ pitching early in the contest was shaky as freshman starter Phil Klein and freshman Cody Dearth struggled with their control.

Those two allowed the Dukes’ first five runs, which came on six hits, two walks and eight hit batsmen.

The Penguins hit nine batters all told and the Dukes had four of their own for 13 total in the contest.

That combined total was a NCAA record — the previous record was 12 — while the 41 stranded base runners by the two teams was the second-most in NCAA history.

The record for stranded runners is 43.

Duquesne scored single runs in the first and second and then added three in the fourth.

YSU’s first run came on a solo home run in the third by Cory Hornyak, his second in as many games.

They also had single runs in the fourth and sixth before tying up the game in the seventh.

Sophomore catcher Dustin Wachter came up with a two run single in the seventh, driving home pinch runner Jason Reitenbach and Marzec, who had doubled.

After that neither team really threatened until the 14th.

Marzec finished with three hits on the day, while Diedrich, Morris, Wachter and Hornyak all added two as the Penguins finished with 16 hits.

mollica@vindy.com