Rockets’ Dvorchak stops Vulcans
WASHINGTON – Kevin Dvorchak couldn’t be happier with the way his senior baseball season is going at Slippery Rock University. The Uniontown graduate kept the good times rolling on Wednesday by tossing three scoreless innings to earn the win in the Rock’s 11-5 victory over California University of Pa. in the first game of their doubleheader at Falconi Field.
Slippery Rock rallied from a 5-0 deficit to win, and rode the momentum from that comeback to a 6-2 victory in the second game to complete the sweep and extend its winning streak to 11 games.
The Rock improved to 20-5 overall and 4-0 in the PSAC-West, while the two-time defending champion Vulcans fell to 9-10 and 0-2.
“That gives us a lot of confidence, because we beat (Bob) Saddler, who’s supposed to be their best pitcher,” said Dvorchak, the son of Mark and Gail Dvorchak of Smock. “We figured if we could beat their ace, especially since they’re our rivals, then we can do that against anybody.”
Nobody has been able to do much with Dvorchak this season. The 6-foot-4 right-hander has been virtually untouchable with a miniscule 0.50 ERA after Wednesday’s game. He’s 2-0 with two saves and has allowed only one run in 18 innings. Dvorchak’s fastball doesn’t hit much more than 81 or 82 on the radar gun, but his repertoire also includes a slider, changeup and split-fingered fastball, with the latter being his bread and butter.
“I threw about 70 percent splitters today,” Dvorchak said. “I taught that pitch to myself. I have really big hands so it wasn’t that hard to learn and I’ve worked on perfecting it over the years. It was windy today, and that makes it even more effective.”
Dvorchak’s control has been impeccable. He’s given up 15 hits and only one walk. Batters are hitting .231 against him.
“My control has been there,” Dvorchak said. “I haven’t thrown a wild pitch this season either, which is key.”
Dvorchak knew well before the season began that he would be an important figure in the Rock’s bullpen.
“I’ve been practicing pitching from the stretch because I knew I’d be used in the late innings mostly,” said Dvorchak, who is 23.
Dvorchak has shown he can still handle a bat as well. A reserve outfielder, he’s 6 for 13 for a .462 batting average with four RBIs, three walks and three runs.
Dvorchak has helped promote Slippery Rock baseball with more than just his play on the field. He also runs the impressive Slippery Rock baseball internet site (www.rockbaseball.com).
“I’m an information technology major and I was supposed to do it for the university,” Dvorchak said. “But then they opted not to do it, so I just put it together on my own for this year. I bought the space and put it up in a few weeks. I put a good bit of time into it. Brett Livingston does all the write ups for it. It’s been a lot of fun.”
The loss in the opener wasn’t much fun for California. In fact, it was an extremely tough pill to follow.
“We’re up 5-0 in the fifth and I thought Saddler was cruising,” said Vulcans’ designated hitter Jason Greene, who also is a Uniontown graduate. “They hit two fly balls that really carried and turned the whole game around. Now we’ve got to go out and get them tomorrow.”
Cal travels to Lock Haven for another 1 p.m. doubleheader today.
The Vulcans scored five runs in four innings off Slippery Rock starter George Johnson in the first game. Tim Donnelly hit an run-scoring single and Mike Larson smacked an RBI double in the first, Jason Smith delivered a run-scoring single in the second, and Lee Petersavage belted a two-run double in the fourth.
The Rock wiped the entire five-run advantage out in the fifth after it loaded the bases on two walks and an infield hit against Saddler, who allowed only two hits in the first four innings. Joe Neidrick singled in a run, then Nathan Statzer hit a fly ball up in the strong wind that was blowing from right to left field and it cleared the left-field fence for a game-tying grand slam.
Dvorchak relieved Johnson in the fifth and immediately got a huge lift from his defense and a Cal mental mistake. Bernie Smith doubled to left-center to lead off the inning, but inexplicably attempted to try to turn the hit into a triple and was easily gunned down by the relay throw.
“That hurt them a lot,” Dvorchak said of the base-running blunder. “They had a chance to get the momentum back, but that just kept it going our way.”
That meant that Brian Stoecklein’s double which followed failed to produce a run, and Dvorchak then settled in and retired five of the next six batters. The hit he allowed in that span was a single to left by Greene, who went 1 for 2 with a run scored.
Dvorchak and Greene were teammates and classmates at Uniontown and both smiled when asked about their head-to-head match-up.
“It was fun, but then it’s kind of tough looking and seeing him smiling at me out there,” Greene said. “He’s got a great splitter so I wasn’t expecting a fastball, which is what I hit.
“We’ve been playing baseball against each other and together since Little League. We’ve come up all the way through the ranks together.”
“He’s had more at bats against me than anyone in the country,” Dvorchak said with a laugh. “I guess you might say he has my number.”
After Dvorchak finished the fifth, Ben Marzullo took advantage of the jet stream to left in the top of the sixth by hitting a lead-off solo homer to put the Rock in front to stay. Saddler gave up three more runs in the frame, which included Statzer’s fifth RBI on a single, before he was finally removed by Cal coach Mike Conte. He allowed nine runs on nine hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in 5 2-3 innings. Saddler was 3-1 with a 1.95 ERA going into the game.
Neidrick hit a two-run double off Scott Simon in the seventh to cap the game’s scoring. Connellsville graduate Dennis Show got the final out of the inning for Cal, stranding runners at second and third.
Show was one of the Vulcans’ bright spots as he also came in to work out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth inning of the second game by getting a strikeout and a force out. Show retired all six batters he faced in the twinbill and stranded all five runners he inherited.
Slippery Rock’s John Ratich surrendered only three hits in six scoreless innings to earn the win in the second game. The Vulcans threatened in the seventh against reliever Dave Sanson. Greene, who was 1 for 2 in the second game, drew a walk to load the bases with none out, and Petersavage singled in a run to make it 6-1. With the tying run on deck, Sanson got a double play and finished up from there.
Alan Reichl had two doubles for the Rock.
Scott Belcastro took the loss, allowing five runs on eight hits in four innings. Connellsville graduate Todd Bell gave up one run on three hits in 1 2-3 innings with two walks and a strikeout.
Dvorchak would like to end his career on an up note. After winning the NCAA Div. II regional tournament as a freshman and reaching the regional final as a sophomore, Dvorchak missed out on the postseason as a junior when Slippery Rock lost its final two games.
“I think we can have our best year since I’ve been here,” Dvorchak said. “We’re a really strong team with a deep pitching staff and hitters up and down our lineup.
“This feels like it’s going to be a special season for us.”