Niles, Ohio -- The Youngstown State baseball team got some of its best midweek pitching of the season, but the Penguins managed only five hits in a 5-2 loss to Kent State on a chilly Wednesday afternoon at Eastwood Field.

YSU starter Cody Dearth allowed only one run in four innings, and Trent Wood threw a scoreless fifth. The Penguins, though, had only two hits from Joe Iacobucci up to that point as they trailed 1-0.

Kent State scored four runs in the final four innings, and YSU was only able to muster a run in the seventh and another in the ninth.

Iacobucci reached in all four of hits plate appearances, but only four other players reached by either a hit or a walk. Jimmy Rider drove in two runs and Travis Shaw scored twice for Kent State, which won for the fifth straight game.

Kent State loaded the bases off Dearth in the first on two one-out singles and a hit batsman. The junior lefthander was able to avoid a big inning by getting Rider to ground out to second and Shaw to fly out to left.

Iacobucci singled to start the second, but he lasted only two pitches on the bases as Eric Marzec fouled out and Jeremy Banks grounded into a double play. It was the first of two inning-ending double plays that the Penguins hit into.

Dearth used a twin-killing to escape a jam in the fourth. He gave up a leadoff double to Rider and beaned Shaw, and those runners advanced on Jason Bagoly's sacrifice bunt. With the infield playing in, Evan Campbell hit a liner to second baseman C.J. Morris at second, who flipped to second to double-up Rider. Banks turned an unassisted double play in the fifth to help Wood work around a leadoff single.

The Golden Flashes put some distance between themselves and the Penguins in the sixth with two runs on three hits and an error. Reliever Bill Turosky retired two of the first three hitters he faced, but Rider went to second base on an errant throw from Neil Schroth as he tried to turn two. Shaw then started a run of three straight singles by Kent State, bringing in Rider on his base hit and scoring on Campbell's single.

The Penguins cut the lead to 3-1 in the seventh behind Iacobucci's third hit, a double that scored Tom Clayton. Iacobucci never got passed second, though, as Addison Dunn retired the next three hitters he faced.

George Roberts brought in Shaw on a one-out single in the eighth to put Kent State ahead 4-1, and the Golden Flashes got an insurance run in the ninth thanks to an error.

Banks singled in Clayton with two outs in the ninth for YSU's final run.

Dearth was the hard-luck loser, allowing one run on three hits while striking out a season-high four batters. Justin Gill earned the win for Kent State, allowing two singles in five innings.

Youngstown State will play at Akron on Wednesday at 3 p.m.