May 20, 2004

Box Score

The Duquesne University baseball team used a six-run fifth inning to defeat visiting Buffalo, 8-5 in Duquesne's regular season finale on Thursday.

The fifth inning was highlighted by a two-run home run by freshman Derek Mechling, a two-run triple by redshirt freshman Corey Bugno and a two-run single by sophomore Steve Maiolo. Senior Dan Schwartzbauer drove in the other two Duquesne runs.

The story of the game however was senior Bill Swart, who played every position on the diamond against the Bulls. Swart cycled through a different position each inning against Buffalo (15-36) and made the first appearance of his career on the mound for the Dukes (21-26). In the final inning, Swart took the mound with two outs and nobody on. The first batter he faced reached on an error and the second walked before Swart got the third Bull he faced to fly out to center field. As a result, Swart collected his first collegiate save. Junior Mike Korzeniewski picked up his third win of the season.

This achievement has only occurred four times in Major League Baseball history. The first to accomplish it was Bert Campaneris for Kansas City on September 8, 1965. Cesar Tovar was the next to play all nine positions in a game for Minnesota on September 22, 1968. More recently, Scott Sheldon completed the accomplishment for Texas on September 6, 2000 followed by Shane Halter on October 1, 2000 for Detroit.

Duquesne experienced the "nine positions in nine innings" phenomenon earlier this season when Maryland's Anthony Buffone accomplished this feat on May 11th.

The Red and Blue return to action on Wednesday, May 26 as they travel to Norwich, CT for the Atlantic 10 Championship. The sixth-seeded Dukes will play either Richmond or St. Bonaventure at 3:30 pm.