May 12, 2008 | Box Score

Marzec's Three Homers Power Penguins Past Mountaineers, 13-9

    Morgantown, W.Va. -- Eric Marzec hit three of Youngstown State's four home runs, and the Penguins held on to defeat West Virginia 13-9 on Monday at Hawley Field.
    Marzec's three round-trippers tied Jim Lipinski's school record set against Oakland on May 6, 2001, and the sophomore broke the single game record for total bases with 13.
    His first home run of the day was a three-run shot in the fourth that put the Penguins (20-30) up 10-0. West Virginia then stormed back by scoring nine of the next 10 runs and (35-16) trailed just 11-9 after seven innings.
    Marzec's solo homer in the seventh accounted for YSU's only run during the West Virginia rally, and he hit a two-run homer in the ninth for the final tally.
    Marzec finished 4-for-6 with six RBIs and four runs scored batting in the sixth spot as the designated hitter.
    Sean Lucas added three hits and two runs, Erich Diedrich scored three times and Joe Iacobucci had three RBIs.
    Adam Kalafos earned his fifth win of the year, allowing five runs on seven hits in five innings of work. Craig Gillet did not allow a run on four hits in three innings of relief.
    "This is a big win for this program," YSU head coach Rich Pasquale said. "That was a good team that we beat today with 35 wins, 26 of them coming at home. Hopefully this will give us some confidence that we can compete and close out games."
    Iacobucci got the Penguins on the board in the first with a two-run double, and his RBI double in the third made the score 4-0. Porter then greeted reliever Ross Fetterly with his first career home run, and Marzec, David Leon and Jason Reitenbach followed with three straight singles to put YSU up 7-0.
    Marzec's three-run homer with two outs in the fourth then gave YSU a 10-0 cushion.
    But West Virginia, which entered the game as one of the top offensive teams in the nation with a .347 average, awoke and scored all nine of its runs on 11 hits in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
    Five straight singles to start the fifth, a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly accounted for four runs in the fifth, and Austin Markel homered to start the sixth to cut the lead to 10-5.
    Marzec's led off the seventh with a homer to put YSU ahead 11-5, but another four-run inning for WVU in the bottom half made the score 11-9.
    Gillet worked around two hits in the eighth, and Marzec rewarded him with a two-run homer to left center in the top of the ninth for the game's final runs.
    The Penguins will play their final home game of the season Tuesday evening at Cene Park against Kent State. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.