YSU rebounds from first-game letdown

By Pete Mollica

NILES — After blowing a two-run lead in the ninth inning of the first game, Youngstown State rebounded for a 12-5 victory to salvage a split with Butler in their Horizon League baseball doubleheader Saturday at Eastwood Field.

The Bulldogs came into the doubleheader with just three wins in league play and two of those were against the Penguins in March at Indianapolis.

The Penguins were looking for revenge and appeared to have it in the opener, leading 4-2 going into the ninth inning.

Senior reliever Joe Antinone came on in the eighth inning for starter Chuck Schiffhauer, who had pitched seven strong innings. Antinone retired the first five batters he faced, but with two outs and ahead in the count he hit Butler’s Joe Pauley.

Colin Ziegler then followed with a home run to tie the game. Antinone walked pinch hitter Rick Betsch and was replaced by Eric Marzec. Betsch stole second and when the throw went into center field he ended up at third base. Ryan Neat followed with a single up the middle to score the go-ahead run as the Penguins lost, 5-4.

“That was a game we should have won,” said YSU coach Rich Pasquale. “Joe let a pitch get away from him and then he paid for his mistake. I told him that he needs to have a short memory and not worry about it because we need him in those late innings. I’ve got all the confidence in the world in him and I even had him warming up in the last inning of the second game if we needed him.”

But sophomore starter Aaron Swenson didn’t need any help in the nightcap as he pitched a complete game, allowing nine hits with five strikeouts and two walks. He had plenty of support both offensively and defensively.

“Aaron pitched a great game and it was one that we really needed after that first loss,” added Pasquale. “This is what we needed out there to bounce back after a tough loss with a good effort.”

“It wasn’t pretty, but it got us a win,” said Swenson after the game. “I knew after losing the opener that we needed a win. I felt pretty good, but once again I got some great support from my teammates.”

Schiffhauer went seven innings in the opener. He allowed a first inning, two-run homer to Pauley, who had three round-trippers in the doubleheader, but then took control and shut out the Bulldogs (8-22, 4-10) over the next six innings. He allowed just four hits, struck out one and walked two.

The Penguins (14-22, 6-5) tied the game in the second inning, getting only one hit, but two Butler errors and a hit batsman aided the Penguins. Senior Mike Turjanica singled home one run in the inning.

YSU took the lead in the fifth, again with the help of a hit batsman and back-to-back singles by Joe Iacobucci and Anthony Porter, then added another run in the seventh when senior Sean Lucas led off with a ground rule double that ended up in the field tarp. Lucas scored on a single by Marzec.

The Penguins scored first in the nightcap when senior Josh Page opened the first inning with a double down the left field line. Page took third on a passed ball and scored on Lucas’ sacrifice fly.

After the Bulldogs tied the score in the third, the Penguins opened things up in the fifth, scoring four times on four hits including a two-run homer by sophomore C.J. Morris to left field. The Penguins got one run on a Butler error and then senior Eric Diedrich drove in the fourth with a sacrifice fly.

Butler scored three runs in the sixth on Pauley’s three-run blast to right field, but the Penguins added two more in their half of the sixth when, with the bases loaded, Morris was hit by a pitch and Josh Page dropped a perfect squeeze bunt to bring in the second run.

The Penguins sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh, scoring four times, but only had two hits as the Bulldogs hit three batters.