May 13, 2008

Final Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

LORAIN, Ohio - Kyle Bischof had three hits, but Cleveland State dropped a 7-4 decision to Duquesne in nonconference action on Tuesday evening at The Pipe Yard. The loss extended CSU's season-high losing streak to six straight and dropped the Vikings to 20-26 this season.

The Dukes, who used seven pitchers, improved to 23-25-1.

"We were very lethargic tonight," head coach Kevin Kocks said. "We have just been going through the motions since our series against UIC got rained out two weeks ago. This is an exciting time of the season with the conference tournament coming up next week and we need to find a way to get excited about playing."

The Dukes jumped on the board with a run in the first, but the Vikings used an RBI single from Bobby Cash and an RBI double by John Foco in the first inning to take a 2-1 lead.

However, the lead did not last long as Duquesne scored a run in the second to knot the game at 2-2 and added two more in the third to assume a 4-2 lead that the Dukes would not relinquish.

Derek Mechling delivered an RBI single in the second, while Bill Torre had a two-run single in the third.

Duquesne extended its lead to 7-2 with another run in the sixth and two more in the eighth on RBI's from Anthony Manley and Dante Plassio.

Tom Carter had a two-run single in the eighth for the Vikings to slice the lead to 7-4, but CSU would get no closer. However, the Vikings did have chances throughout the night.

In the third, CSU put runners on second and third with one out, but the inning ended when Foco and John Brown were retired on line drives to second and third base, respectively.

The Vikings led off the ninth with back-to-back singles by Travis Miller and Bischof. After Alex Kerins flied out, Cash hit a ground ball up the middle that the Dukes turned into a game-ending double play.

Bischof finished 3-for-5 with a run scored, while Foco and Carter both went 2-for-4.

CSU's Chris Bauman (1-2) took the loss, lasting four innings and giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits. Vasili Pahoulis worked the next two innings, while Brian Long, Sam Suitca and Jeremy Hartman each worked one inning.

Brian Bernardo started for the Dukes, giving up two runs on five hits in three innings. Lawrence Anderson, Joe Perotti, Nick Jones, Grant Gillespie, Andrew Heck and Danny Brown threw an inning each, combining to give up just two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts.

Anderson picked up the win to improve to 3-1 this season, while Brown earned his eighth save of the season.

The Vikings are slated to host Pittsburgh on Wednesday (May 14) beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the Pipe Yard in the final home game of the season.