Pittsburgh holds off YSU rally at Eastwood

Eric Marzec hit a long home run for the Penguins in a 7-6 loss.

ByPETE MOLLICA

Vindicator Sports Staff

NILES — The Youngstown State baseball team needs to get its offense going a little quicker this season.

One of the reasons the Penguins have struggled thus far this season has been because of falling behind early, making a comeback, but more times than not falling short.

That’s what happened Tuesday afternoon when the Penguins fell behind Pittsburgh 7-0 over the first four innings, then rallied in the next four before falling just short in a 7-6 loss in their home opener at Eastwood Field.

YSU (3-12) struggled without a hit through the first four innings against Pitt starter Ryan Dunford before finally coming alive to make a game of it in the final four frames.

“You can’t spot any team a seven-run lead, let alone a good Big East team like Pitt,” said YSU coach Rich Pasquale.

“We’ve just got to get our bats working a lot earlier than we have been,” he added. “We’ve struggled like this quite a bit this year, falling behind early, then battling back but just not able to put the team away.”

Tuesday the Penguins didn’t get a lot of help from their first two pitchers as junior Corey Vukovic struggled through the first three innings, allowing six runs and six hits, while reliever Phil Kline walked three batters in two-thirds of an inning and allowed one run, accounting for all of Pitt’s scoring.

“I told Corey that hopefully it was just one of those games for him,” Pasquale said. “He pitched really well in his last outing.

But Pasquale did get three strong innings out of junior Anthony Munoz and two more from junior Eric Marzec.

Marzec is the Penguins’ starting right fielder who is also a very talented relief pitcher.

“They toyed around with me as a starter this year, but I’m more of a strong reliever,” Marzec said. “Besides I love to play the field and hit.

The Canton native had just one hit against the Panthers (9-5), but it was a solo home run that cleared both fences in left field. It came in the seventh inning and pulled the Penguins to within 7-6.

“We dug ourselves a pretty good hole early, but it was our home opener and we did battle back on a beautiful afternoon,” Marzec said. “We’re going to just get better.”

While the Penguins struggled with the pitching of Dunford, Pitt struck quickly in the second inning thanks to a three-run home run by Matt Litzinger.

The Panthers also scored four times in the fourth inning on three hits and four walks. Frank Mercurio had a two-run single in the inning.

When the Panthers’ bats finally subsided, the Penguins started.

Freshman Jeremy Banks opened the fifth inning with a double for the first YSU hit and sophomore Joe Iacobucci followed with a single to left, scoring Banks with the first YSU run.

In the sixth inning the Penguins sent nine hitters to the plate. They were aided by a two-run throwing error by Pitt shortstop Danny Lopez, while senior John Koehnlein singled in another run and Iacobucci drove in the fourth on a sacrifice fly.

Marzec led off the seventh inning with the long home run. The Penguins never threatened in the final two frames off Pitt relievers Ricky Breymier and Nate Reed, the latter coming on to throw just one pitch and get the final out of the game.

The Penguins did blow a scoring opportunity in the third when they loaded the bases without a hit and only one out, but didn’t score.

The Penguins will return to action today with a 3 p.m. contest at Akron. Freshman Ryan Messmer is slated to pitch against the Zips.

mollica@vindy.com