Box Score
Anthony Santoro homered and drove in four runs, and the Youngstown State baseball team finished off a four-win week with a 10-3 victory at Northern Kentucky on Sunday afternoon at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
Santoro hit a two-run double that gave the Penguins the lead in a six-run sixth inning, and his first career home run in the seventh put YSU up 9-3. The senior catcher then scored on a wild pitch in the ninth inning for the final tally.
Lucas Nasonti and Blaze Glenn also homered for Youngstown State, which finished off a great week offensively by beating the Norse. In five games during the week, YSU scored 64 runs, posted 76 hits, blasted 13 home runs and stole 21 bases.
All of the Penguins' offense came in the final four innings, and starter Kip DeShields limited the Norse to one run in the first five innings. Making his first conference start of the season, he allowed three runs, just one of which was earned, while striking out five batters over six innings to earn the win.
The only run until the sixth came in the bottom of the first inning. NKU's Will Haueter hit a two-out double down the left field line and moved to third on a single from Griffin Doersching. Chad Roberts then brought Haueter home with a sacrifice fly to put the Norse ahead 1-0.
The series-changing sixth inning went the way of the Penguins starting with the first pitch of the frame as Glenn homered to left to tie the score at 1-1. YSU ended up sending nine batters to the plate, and Santoro's two-run double that plated Andrew Kendrick and Nick LaBrasca made the score 3-1. Later in the inning, with Santoro and Trey Bridis aboard, Nasonti greeted reliever Joe Martin with a three-run blast that extended the lead to 6-1.
NKU got two runs back in the bottom of the sixth when Cole Heavilin brought in Doersching on a sacrifice fly and Roberts scored on a wild pitch, but that's as close as the Norse would get. Kendrick doubled and scored on LaBrasca's two-out single in the top of the seventh, and Santoro followed with his two-run blast to extend the Penguins' lead to 9-3. Santoro was hit by a pitch, advanced on Web Charles' single and scored on a wild pitch in the ninth.
In addition to Santoro's three hits, Kendrick, Nasonti and Jeff Wehler each posted two hits.
DeShields left with a 6-3 lead, and Zack Minney came on to allow just one baserunner to reach in his three innings of shutout relief to earn his first save.
Youngstown State will wrap up the regular season this week with four games. The Penguins will host Kent State on Tuesday at 11 a.m. for a special Akron Children's Hospital Kids Day, and they'll play a three-game series at UIC on Thursday through Saturday.
