The Youngstown State baseball team had a 4-2 loss against Akron on Wednesday evening at Eastwood Field.

Frank Califano continued to swing a hot bat with three hits, and Shane Willoughby also had three hits for the Penguins. Eight of YSU's 11 hits came from the top four spots in the batting order.

In the first inning, Akron put two runs on the board when Billy Salem and Jared Rohan had back-to-back RBI singles. The two runners who scored, Mason Mamarella and Brian Lees, reached on a walk and hit by pitch.

YSU quickly answered back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 2-2. Califano singled through to the right side and stole second, and the Penguins had runners at the corners after an error on Lorenzo Arcuri's bunt. Alex Larivee plated Califano with an infield single, and the Penguins had the bases loaded with nobody out following a bunt single by Willoughby. But Akron starter Josh Lapiana escaped with allowing just one more run. He struck out Brent Gillespie, and the run came on Dominic Farmina's fielder's choice..

The Penguins had a pair of runners thrown out on the bases in the fourth and fifth innings that proved to be costly. Matt Sullivan was gunned down at the plate to end the fourth on Califano's single, and Akron took the lead in the fifth with four straight singles. YSU had a chance to get runners on the corners with one out in the fifth, but Willoughby was thrown out at second trying to take an extra base on a single.

YSU starter D.J. Carr allowed two runs on seven hits in three innings in a no-decision, and the loss was charged to Jared Wight, who dropped to 3-5. Lapiana went six innings and allowed one earned run on eight hits in the win.

Youngstown State stranded nine runners, and Akron left 12 on base. Rohan finished with four hits, and Akron got at least two hits from its three through six hitters.

YSU will return Friday for a three game series against Oakland starting at 11 a.m. at Eastwood Field.