Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Niles, Ohio -- Youngstown State starting pitchers Corey Vukovic
and Aaron Swenson had outstanding outings in leading the Penguins
to a doubleheader sweep of Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon at
Eastwood Field.
Vukovic pitched into the eighth inning and struck out a
career-high seven batters to lead YSU to a 6-0 victory in game one.
Swenson then struck out a career-high 10 Crusaders and did not
allow a run over the final seven innings in a 3-1 complete game
victory.
Erich Diedrich also set YSU's career RBI record in the first
inning of game one when he singled home Sean Lucas.
Vukovic's and Swenson's performances came off of a strong start
Friday evening from Chuck Schiffhauer. Combined, the trio allowed
two earned runs in 23.2 innings.
Diedrich's RBI single in the first inning of game one game the
Penguins a 1-0 lead, and that's all that Vukovic needed to earn his
first win of the season. Eric Marzec scored on a wild pitch in the
second, and the Guins erupted for four runs on four hits in the
fifth.
Vukovic did not allow a hit until Zach Rodeghero singled with
two outs in the fourth inning. Josh Wallace followed with a double
to put two runners on, but Vukovic induced Andrew Quinnette into an
inning-ending ground out.
The Crusaders found themselves in a better opportunity in the
sixth with runners on second and third with nobody out. Vukovic
struck out Rodeghero and Wallace, and he got Quinnette to fly
out.
Vukovic hit the 100-pitch mark in the eighth and handed the ball
off to Adam Kalafos after back-to-back singles to start the inning
put runners at the corners. Kalafos got the Brett Bivens to pop
out, walked Rodeghero, fanned Wallace and got Quinnette to fly out
to left.
In game two, Swenson got stronger as the game went on and
allowed only one hit after the fifth inning. Valpo's lone run came
in the second when Ryan O'Gara hit a leadoff double, moved to third
on a sacrifice and scored on a ground out. After that, only two
Crusaders reached second base - once in the fifth and once in the
eighth.
Vukovic finished allowing six hits and did not walk a batter in
his seven innings while Kalafos allowed a hit and a walk in two
innings of relief.
The Penguins tied the score in the third when Josh Page reached
on an infield single, advanced on David Leon's sacrifice and scored
on Lucas's two-out single.
The Penguins cashed in on two errors in the fifth to score an
unearned run, and Lucas singled home Koehnlein after he hit a
leadoff single and stole second in the eighth for an
insurance run.
After the Crusaders put two runners on with one out in the
fifth, Swenson retired nine straight batters and struck out the
side in the sixth to allow YSU to build its lead. He allowed a one
out double in the eighth and saw what was the tying run reach third
after a ground out, but Lucas made a terrific play on a grounder to
third to end the inning.
Swenson allowed seven hits and did not walk a batter in his
109-pitch effort. He outdueled Valpo's Alex Berry, who allowed two
earned runs on eight hits in seven innings.
Bryce Shafer was charged with all six runs on eight hits and
four walks in 4.1 innings of game one in a losing effort.
Lucas and Anthony Porter had two hits in both games while
Diedrich had three hits in game one and Koehnlein had two in the
finale.
The Penguins will play two seven-inning games at Toledo on
Tuesday starting at noon.