March 11, 2009 | Box Score

Long Balls Keep Penguins From Completing Rally in 11-7 Loss at JMU

    Harrisonburg, Va. -- The Youngstown State baseball team cut an 8-1 deficit to one before James Madison's third home run of the day helped preserve an 11-7 victory for the Dukes on Wednesday afternoon at Long Field/Mauck Stadium.
    The Dukes led 8-1 through three innings before the Penguins started their comeback bid. YSU scored three runs in the fourth and three more in the eighth to get within one, but a three-run homer by Matt Townsend in the bottom of the eighth gave the Dukes some breathing room.
    John Koehnlein and Eric Marzec had two hits apiece, and Jacke Healey had two RBIs and scored twice for YSU. Townsend finished with three hits, three runs scored and three RBIs to lead James Madison.
    The Dukes scored four runs in the first and two in the second off Marzec, and they added two more on Ryan Messmer in the third. Messmer settled down and retired nine straight batters, including 15 of the final 19 he faced. He allowed two one-out singles in the eighth, and Townsend greeted Aaron Swenson with a three-run homer.
    The first two Dukes reached to start the first, and No. 4 hitter McKinnon Langston singled in Townsend for the game's first run. After Jake Lowery's sacrifice fly brought in Trevor Knight, Matt Browning hit a two-run homer to right to make the score 4-0.
    Marzec struck out the first two batters in the second inning, but Townsend doubled and David Herbek homered to give the Dukes a 6-0 head start.
    Koehnlein hit a two-out single to center in the third to score Eric Hymel to put YSU on the board, but James Madison scored two more runs in the bottom half to go up 8-1. Messmer beaned Lowery and walked Browning to start the third, and they scored on back-to-back singles by Lee Bujakowski and Bryan Lescanec. With two runners still on, Messmer got a fly out and a double play to minimize the damage.
    The Penguins began to claw their way back in the fourth by plating three runs on two hits, two walks and a hit batsman. Healey drew a leadoff walk, and Marzec followed with a single to center. Anthony Porter walked to load the bases, and C.J. Morris was hit on a 2-2 pitch to score Healey. Marzec scored on a double play, and Porter scored on Hymel's infield single to cut the margin to 8-4.
    Messmer and Dukes starter Evan Scott went toe-to-toe through the seventh, and the Penguins jumped on JMU reliever James Weiner in the eighth. Koehnlein reached on a bunt single to start the inning, and David Leon singled to center. Healey then ripped a two-run double to left to plate both runs, and Marzec's RBI single off Kevin Munson made the score 8-7. With Marzec on second and nobody out after advancing on the throw home, Munson got two strike outs and a pop out to end the inning.
    Marzec was charged with the loss, allowing six runs in two innings in his first start on the mound since April 3, 2007. Evan earned his first win of the season in four tries, allowing four runs on five hits in seven innings.
    The Penguins will have an off day Thursday after playing six games in the last five days. They will wrap up their spring trip on Friday with the start of a three-game series at Marshall. First pitch at the Kennedy Center is set for 3 p.m.