Youngstown State University

A native of nearby Boardman OH, he is one of the best all around athletes ever to attend Youngstown State University. As a scholastic athlete, he played basketball and baseball for the Spartans, accepting a scholarship from head baseball mentor Dom Rosselli upon graduation from high school to perform for the Penguin nine. During his four year career, he set or tied six pitching records, ranking in the 82-45 ledger en route to a personal 21-7 pitching slate. His 1.85 earned run average is still the third best mark of all Penguin twirlers while his 252 collegiate strike outs is still the Penguin mark for K's in a career. He still ranks first in wins in a season (7) and shutouts in a season (4), and still ranks in the top ten in those same 20 pitching departments 10 years after leaving the collegiate ranks. Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the summer of 1078, his break came when he was traded by the Bucs to the San Diego Padres in 1981, and a year later, after 16 games with Hawaii (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League, found himself in the big leagues. The most successful baseball Penguin, he has been on two League Championship Series teams (San Diego in 1984) and was named to the 1983 All Star squad. His forte is scoreless innings in post-season play, tossing six scoreless six scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs in 1984 in three relief appearances, another 4.2 shutout innings against the Detroit Tigers in the 1984 World Series then last season against the St. Louis Cardinals in the League Championship Series, pitched a 5-0, two hit shutout in game #2, but suffered a tough 1-0 loss to those same Cardinals in game #6 on a fly ball that was lost in the sun. In October when his house is completed, Dave and his family will return to the area permanently when they once again will be able to call Youngstown their home, moving to the Mill Creek area of the city.