The Youngstown State baseball team will play host to Kent State in a doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon and conclude the first half of Horizon League play with a three-game series at Valparaiso over the weekend.
The Penguins and Golden Flashes are scheduled for a pair of seven-inning games starting at 4 p.m. at Eastwood Field on Tuesday. The teams were originally slated to play one nine-inning game at 5:30 p.m., but the extra game was added because both teams have had several games cancelled due to weather. Friday's series opener against the Crusaders will be at 4 p.m. Eastern, and the games on Saturday and Sunday will start at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Youngstown State is coming off its first week of play that wasn't affected by the weather since the first week of March, and it went 1-4 in five games. The Penguins lost to Penn State on Tuesday, then turned around for an impressive 7-6 win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday. YSU's bullpen held the Panthers without a hit over the final six innings as the offense rallied from a 6-3 deficit. Pittsburgh was coming off a series sweep of #23 Georgia Tech, and it beat #1 Virginia this past weekend. The win for YSU was its first in program history over a team in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Penguins were swept over the weekend at UIC, including a 6-5 loss in 10 innings in the finale on Sunday.
Sophomore left-hander Jared Wight and freshman righty Jeremy Quinlan are scheduled to take the mound for Youngstown State against Kent State on Tuesday. Wight would make his first start since March 12 at Eastern Kentucky, and Quinlan would be making his first career start. The weekend rotation will remain the same with right-handers Brendon Shoemake, Patrick O'Brien and Nic Manuppelli on the docket.
Junior third baseman Matt Sullivan is coming off a strong week at the plate in which he went 6-for-12. Dating back to March 26, Sullivan is batting .455 with a 1.020 OPS. Kris Moules hit .462 with five runs scored last week, and Mike Accardi hit .429 with four RBIs. Freshman outfielder Alex Larivee continues to lead the group of Penguins with more than 50 at bats with a .321 average, and Moules, Josh White and Brent Gillespie are all hitting above .275. Jason Shirley is batting .326 in 43 at bats, and David Saluga's average is .342 over 34 at bats. White leads the Penguins with 14 RBIs, and Larivee has a team-high 12 runs scored.
