Northern Kentucky scored in five different innings and beat the Youngstown State baseball team 6-3 in the rubber match of a three-game series at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex on Sunday.

Nico Padovan went 3-for-3 with a walk, and Alex Larivee and Kyle Benyo had a pair of hits to lead the Penguins offensively. Four Norse batters had two hits. Neither team hit a home run on Sunday after hitting a combined 15 in the first two games of the series.

NKU led 1-0 after a Mike Moffatt RBI single in the second inning, and Youngstown State took its only lead of the game in the top of the third. Anthony Santoro and Benyo led off with singles, and Padovan reached on an error to load the bases with nobody out. Anthony Rohan's sacrifice fly tied the game, and Shane Willoughby brought in Benyo on an infield single that made the score 2-1.

NKU scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to take a 4-2 advantage, and it worked out of a jam in the seventh to preserve the win. Benyo led off with a double, and Padovan walked to put the go-ahead run on base. Rohan sacrificed the runners up 90 feet, and Cameron Ross came in for NKU to induce an infield ground out by Larivee that scored Benyo. Ross intentionally walked Andrew Kendrick and struck out Willoughby to end the inning.

Ross got a double play after a leadoff single in the eighth, and NKU scored twice in the bottom of the inning to take its 6-3 lead. Ross worked around a one-out single by Padovan in the ninth to record his fourth save of the season.

YSU starter Jeremy Quinlan allowed one earned run over 3-1/3 innings in a no-decision. Joe King pitched the final 4-2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs, and he was charged the loss.

NKU's Pat Kelley allowed two runs, one of which was earned, over six innings in the win. Brody Basilone recorded one out before handing the ball to Ross, who recorded the final eight outs for the Norse.

Youngstown State will play at Kent State on Tuesday at 4 p.m.