Niles -- The Youngstown State baseball team earned a character win on Saturday, responding after blowing its second big lead of the afternoon to rally and defeat UIC 14-13 in game two of a doubleheader at Eastwood Field.

The Penguins, who lost the first game 9-7 after leading 5-0, also fell behind in game two after leading 8-2. YSU trailed 12-8 heading into the bottom of the seventh, but the Guins scored three in the seventh and three in the eighth to pull off the win.

YSU senior shortstop Jacke Healey went a combined 6-for-10 with five runs scored and four RBIs in the two games. He also hit his 10th home run of the season, which ties him with Jim Lipinski for the third-most round-trippers in year. The school record is 11, and the Penguins have 32 games remaining on their regular-season schedule.

Freshman Zac McFarland went a combined 5-for-5 and hit his first collegiate home run, and Jeremy Banks added five hits and three RBIs.

In the nightcap, UIC scored seven runs in the sixth and three runs in the eighth to turn an 8-2 deficit into a 12-8 advantage heading into the bottom of the seventh. That's when Youngstown State's bats woke up from a two-inning slumber to cut the margin 12-11 with a three-run frame.

Reliever Matt Salemi retired the first hitter, but Joe Iacobucci sparked the offense with a home run to right field on the first pitch of his at bat. Anthony Porter and Neil Schroth hit back-to-back singles, and they moved up a base on a balk. They moved up again on Derek Carr's sacrifice fly to center, and Schroth scored on another balk to make the score 12-11.

UIC upped its lead by one in the eighth when Matt Serna scored on a wild pitch, but that was the only mistake Trent Wood made in his 1.2 innings of relief. He came in with the bases loaded and one out, and he struck out Chris Rutta and Ty Rubio to bookend the wild pitch.

In the bottom of the eighth, C.J. Morris led off with a single and went to second on a wild pitch that forced Salemi from the game. Armani Johnson greeted Tim Suminski with a single to left that put runners at the corners, and Healey singled in Morris on the first pitch of his at bat. Johnson went to third on a deep fly ball to center that Banks hit, which put runners at the corners for the play that decided the game. Healey stole second on a delay, and catcher Steven Humble's throw went under the glove of shortstop Andy Leonard, who was cutting toward the mound to try and keep Johnson from leaving third. The ball rolled slowly into centerfield, and Johnson and Healey both scored to give the Penguins the winning runs.

Wood retired the Flames' first three hitters in order in the ninth to earn his third win of the campaign.

UIC got an unearned run in the first inning to go ahead 1-0, but Healey knotted the score in the bottom half by hitting a towering blast that cleared the bullpen in left field. Ryan Meehan put UIC back on top 2-1 by singling in Leonard in the second.

The Penguins stranded eight runners in the first three innings, but they finally got to starter Chris Kovacevich in the fourth. Healey reached un a bunt single, and Iacobucci loaded the bases two batters later with his own bunt single. Porter drove in Healey with a soft single to center to knock Kovacevich from the game, and Schroth completed the run of five straight singles with a hit to left off Eric Wyman that brought in Banks. After getting an out at the plate on a fielder's choice, Wyman hit Greg Dissinger, gave up a single to Morris and allowed Tom Clayton to score on a wild pitch. Salemi came in to hit Johnson to rel-load the bases, and Healey hit a two-run single that plated Morris and Dissinger.

YSU starter Blake Aquadro ran into trouble in the sixth when the first four Flames reached, and the freshman lefty exited with the bases loaded and an 8-3 lead. UIC went on to score seven times in the inning and took the lead on Serna's single to right off Alex Frey, who was YSU's third pitcher of the inning.

Ganek gave the Flames their 12-8 lead in the seventh when he brought in three runs on a two-out, high fly ball to shallow center that landed between three Penguins. All three of the runs were unearned, and seven of the Flames' 13 runs were unearned in the game.

In the opener, Morris and Banks each hit two-run doubles in the second inning to put YSU ahead 4-0. Banks then doubled in Healey in the fourth to put the Penguins on top 5-0.

YSU starter Phil Klein allowed only two hits in the first five innings, and he worked out of a bases-loaded jam with two strikeouts in the sixth to keep the Flames scoreless. Over 100 pitches for the game, Klein allowed a leadoff triple and hit a batter to start the seventh, and he left with a 5-0 lead. John Rosinski doubled in a run off Bill Turosky, and Chris Rutta came off the bench to hit a pinch-hit grand slam off Kevin McCulloh to tie the score at 5-5.

The Penguins loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh but didn't score, but Banks scored on a sacrifice fly in the eighth to give YSU a 6-5 lead. The Penguins had runners at the corners with nobody out in the eighth, but they only ended up with the one run after an unusual play on the sacrifice fly. Porter hit a sinking liner to left that was verbally ruled a catch, but Derek Carr was tagged out going to second as he and the Penguins coaches thought the ball had fallen for a hit. After a conference by all three umpires, both Carr and Porter were called out.

Things got even more unusual in the top of the ninth after Alex Oles came on and promptly got Serna to ground out to start the inning. Rosinski hit a fly ball out to right field that Clayton ran down for the apparent second out, but Clayton slipped on his final steps. The ball scooted past him, Rosinski ended up with a triple, and the Flames had the tying run on third with one out. With the infield drawn in, Leonard plated the tying run on a soft grounder up the middle that may have resulted the third out of the inning. Joe Betcher followed with a two-run home run, and Meehan hit a solo shot to put the Flames ahead 9-6.

McFarland hit a solo home run in the ninth to cut the margin to 9-7, which ended up as the final tally.

Oles suffered his third loss in three decisions, and Suminski earned the win. Suminski ended up as the losing pitcher in the nightcap.

Youngstown State will welcome Duquesne to Eastwood Field on Wednesday at 3 p.m. The Dukes defeated the Penguins 14-8 this past Tuesday.