May 15, 2008 | Game One Box | Game Two Box

Penguins Take Two at Milwaukee, Clinch at Least Fifth

    Milwaukee, Wis. -- Eric Marzec's RBI single in the 13th lifted Youngstown State to a doubleheader sweep of Milwaukee, 8-6 and 5-4, at Miller Park on Thursday.
    With the sweep the Penguins can finish no worse than fifth in the final Horizon League standings. They can finish third and earn the No. 3 seed in next week's Horizon League Baseball Championship with a win tomorrow or a loss by both Cleveland State and Valparaiso. The two wins also give YSU 999 total victories as a program.
    Erich Diedrich tied YSU's career home runs record in game one, and Sean Lucas homered in game two. Junior John Koehnlein had his best day of the season at the plate, going a combined 6-for-9 with three RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base.
    The Penguins will play their final game of the regular season Friday at 2 p.m. Eastern against the Panthers.
    In game one, YSU led 4-0 and used a three-run eighth to break a 5-5 tie.
    Diedrich singled home Page in the first and hit a two-run blast in the third to put YSU up by three. Joe Iacobucci then followed with a double in the third, and Marzec hit a sacrifice fly two batters later.
    Milwaukee left fielder Nick Wichser threw out David Leon at the plate to end the top of the fourth, and the Panthers carried the momentum into the bottom half by scoring four times to tie the score.
    Both teams scored once in the seventh, and YSU outscored UWM 3-1 in the eighth for the final tally. Anthony Porter led off the eighth with a single, and Marzec walked to set up Leon's sacrifice bunt. C.J. Morris walked to load the bases, and Koehnlein moved everyone up a base with an RBI single up the middle. Page then walked to force in a run, and Lucas brought home pinch-runner Jason Reitenbach on a sacrifice fly.
    Reliever Craig Gillet earned his first win, allowing one run over the final 2 1/3 innings. Starter Aaron Swenson allowed five runs, three of which were earned, on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.
    Matt Holzheuter was tagged with the loss, allowing three runs on two hits and three walks in 1/3 of an inning.
    In game two, the Penguins scored twice in the eighth and once in the ninth to overcome a 3-1 deficit. Wichser's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth extended the game to extra frames where Marzec had his heroics.
    The Panthers loaded the bases in the third on three infield singles, and Jesse Hart hit a two-run single to put UWM up 2-0. Another infield single loaded the bases again, but Iacobucci ended the inning by catching Shawn Wozniak's fly ball to left and gunning Andy Gerhartz at the plate.
    Koehnlein drove in Leon on a two-out single in the fifth to cut the lead in half, but Milwaukee scored again in the sixth to go back up by two.
    Koehnlein led off the eighth with a double to right center, and Lucas hit his second homer of the season two batters later to tie the score.
    The Penguins then executed well with two outs in the top of the ninth to pull ahead 4-3. Reliever Adam Ferrell came on to retire the first two batters before Reitenbach hit a pinch-hit single to center. The redshirt freshman stole second, and Koehnlein brought him home with a single between short and third.
    John Sarcia led off the bottom half with a single, and he advanced on Gerhartz's sacrifice. YSU starter Chuck Schiffhauer retired Jesse Hart on a come-backer for the second out, but Wichser tied the game with a two-strike single up the middle.
    The Panthers had runners in scoring position in the 10th, 11th and 12th innings, but they left the bases loaded in the 10th, stranded two in the 11th and left one on in the 12th.
    Ferrell did not allow more than one runner to reach in any of the first three extra frames, but a leadoff walk to Diedrich in the 13th ended up resulting in the loss. Ferrell retired Cory Hornayk, hit Porter and threw a wild pitch to allow Diedrich to go to third. With the infield in, Marzec singled between short and third with the eventual game-winner.
    Ryan Sellman, who retired the final batter in the 12th, allowed just a two-out single in the bottom of the 13th to earn his first win.
    Schiffhauer allowed four runs on 12 hits in nine innings, and Joe Antinone, Ryan Wackerman and Sellman did not allow a run out of the bullpen.