Youngstown State advances, Butler eliminated at baseball championship

Box Score

May 24, 2007

Youngstown State 20, Butler 7 (Butler eliminated)
Chicago, Ill. - John Koehnlein set a tournament single-game record with six hits (in seven at-bats), and the sixth-seeded Penguins finished with 23 including five homers to power their way past Butler 20-7 in the comeback bracket of the 2007 U.S. Army Horizon League Baseball Championship at Les Miller Field.

Mike Turjanica homered twice and Tom Clayton hit a fourth-inning grand slam to provide more than enough support for starting pitcher Chuck Schiffhauer. The right-hander won for the first time in seven decisions this season, while BU starter Brian Deter fell to 2-4.

Turjanica's first homer of the day opened the scoring in the top of the second inning, but Ricky Chomicz answered with a solo shot in the bottom half. Youngstown came back with five runs in the third and eight, though, in the fourth to take command.

Tom Clayton's RBI double plated Koehnlein to start the third-inning rally, with Erich Diedrich adding a two-run single before Turjanica belted his second homer of the game and third of the season for a 6-1 lead. Dustin Bucalo's run-scoring single cut the margin to 6-2, but Youngstown sent 13 men to the plate against three Bulldog hurlers in the fourth inning.

Clayton took advantage of a strong breeze, lifting a fly ball which sailed just inside left-field foul pole for his grand slam. Lee Bainbridge and Brent Parks each had an RBI hit and Koehnlein finished the outburst with a two-run single to give the Penguins a 14-2 advantage.Rick Betsch hit a three-run shot for his first homer of the spring in the bottom of the fourth, but Youngstown State answered quickly in the fifth with solo homers by Diedrich and Bainbridge, followed by Koehnlein's two-out, RBI single for a 17-5 cushion. Joe Pauley's sacrifice fly in the sixth inning and Betsch's second homer of the day in the eighth closed the scoring for Butler, but Dustin Wachter singled home a run in the ninth before Koehnlein slapped a two-run single to break the tournament record and close the scoring.

Koehnlein eclipsed the mark most recently accomplished by Wright State's Ross Oeder versus Cleveland State last year, while Turjanica recorded the 11th two-homer game in tourney annals---the first since Detroit's Juston Davenport in 2002. Youngstown State's five home runs were one short of the tournament record, set by Northern Illinois in a 15-11 victory over Butler in 1996.

Clayton finished with five RBI, while Diedrich and Turjanica each drove in three runs and scored three. Diedrich and Parks both went four-for-six at the plate to lead the Penguins' attack. Betsch had three hits in four at-bats with three runs scored and four RBI for the Bulldogs.

Youngstown State advances in the comeback bracket, improving to 18-36 while fifth-seeded Butler was eliminated from the tournament and finishes the season at 22-33.