Penguins completely too much for Butler

By Pete Mollica

NILES — In college baseball, complete games by a pitcher are rare. A doubleheader sweep with complete games is extremely unlikely.

But Youngstown State junior Aaron Swenson and sophomore Cody Dearth tossed complete games in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of Butler at Eastwood Field.

Swenson, who was last season’s Pitcher of the Year in the Horizon League, tossed his third complete game of the season in Saturday’s opener, a 6-1 win.

Dearth, who had never pitched more than six innings in his college career, tossed his first complete game in an 11-2 romp for the Penguins (6-20, 3-5 Horizon League).

Both pitchers praised their teammates who played errorless ball over the 18 innings while ripping 27 hits.

Saturday’s win was Swenson’s eighth career complete game.

“To have one pitcher throw a complete game is outstanding, but to have both pitchers do it in a doubleheader sweep is just phenomenal,” YSU head coach Rich Pasquale said.

“You get to expect those things out of Aaron but for Cody it was just sensational,” Pasquale said. “He hadn’t gone longer than six innings all season.

“We even considered taking him out of the game in the fourth inning when he got in trouble and started to look like he was tiring,” Pasquale said. “But he got through that and then just kept getting stronger and stronger as the game went on.

Dearth said he “probably could have pitched a couple more — just as long as I had that defense behind me.

“They were the difference and I probably wouldn’t have made it past the sixth inning again today if it wasn’t for the way they played behind me,” Dearth said. “They saved me so many times.

“And that offense wasn’t too bad either. Those were two big wins for this team, but we got to complete the sweep Sunday to make it a perfect weekend,” Dearth said.

Dearth (2-0) allowed six hits and two runs, both earned, while striking out four and walking five. He also threw three wild pitches. Two of them allowed Butler to score its runs.

Swenson had a no-hitter going through five innings and had allowed just one base runner while his teammates staked him to a 6-0 lead.

He finished the game allowing five hits and one run that came in the seventh inning. He tied a career-high in strikeouts with 10 while walking two.

“The difference today for me was my fastball,” Swenson said. “I was able to throw it where I wanted to when I wanted to and that’s the key for most pitchers.

“I had great support behind me and I really felt good,” Swenson said. “The weather wasn’t a problem although I was concerned about the wind, which was blowing out when we started.”

Offensively in the opener, the Penguins did all their damage in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

They scored first in the third on a RBI double by senior John Koehnlein, whose three hits included a double and triple.

The Penguins added two more in the fourth on three straight hits by Joe Iacobucci, Greg Dissinger and Derek Carr. They finished the scoring with three in the fifth on Koehnlein’s triple, a single by Dissinger and a Butler error.

In the second game, junior Eric Marzec just missed hitting for the cycle as he had a double, triple and a solo home run to drive in four runs.

Iacobucci and C.J. Morris each added three of the Penguins’ hits. David Leon and Carr had two hits each.

The Penguins jumped out to a 6-0 lead and then scored five in the sixth to break the contest open. Marzec’s solo home run, his fifth of the year, came in the eighth inning.

The Penguins and Bulldogs will close out their series today with a single game at noon at Eastwood Field.

mollica@vindy.com