The Youngstown State baseball team battled on Sunday against Northern Kentucky but came up short in a 9-7 loss to the Norse in the series finale at Eastwood Field.

Northern Kentucky completed the three-game sweep in YSU's first Horizon League series at home this season.

Lucas Nasonti was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and Braeden O'Shaughnessy was 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Penguins offensively. Andre Good also had a pair of hits, and YSU finished with nine as a team.

Four different Norse batters had two hits, and NKU finished with 11 collectively.

YSU starter Matt Brosky was charged with the loss, allowing five earned runs and two unearned tallies on nine hits over 5.1 innings. Casey Marshalwitz and Nathan Ball each allowed a run out of the bullpen.

Northern Kentucky used three pitchers in the first inning, but the third one, Kaden Echeman, settled in and pitched 4.1 innings for the Norse. He surrendered three runs, two of which were earned, on six hits and three walks to earn his first victory of the season. Nick Noble allowed two runs over the sixth and seventh innings, and Andrew Mulhern did not allow a run and struck out three batters over the final two innings to earn his first save.

Youngstown State is now 10-22 overall and 3-6 in conference play, while NKU improved to 11-18 and 6-5.

The Norse got on the board in the top of the first with a pair of two-out hits. Brosky allowed a leadoff single to Manny Vorhees, but he got a lineout and picked off Vorhees to get back to a clean start. Ryan Glass followed with a double to the right-center gap to restart the offense, and he scored on Brennan Gick's RBI single.

In the bottom of the first, Youngstown State sent eight batters to the plate without recording a hit and scored twice to take a 2-1 lead. Padraig O'Shaughnessy drew a leadoff walk, Nasonti was hit by a pitch, and both runners moved 90 feet on a wild pitch. Braeden O'Shaughnessy plated his older brother on a ground out as the final batter that starter Tyler Murphy faced, and Nasonti stole home with two outs off of lefty relief pitcher Blaine Walters.

Neither team scored in the second or third, and the Norse scored four runs in the fourth to reclaim the upper hand. There were three hits and two errors in the inning, and two of the runs were unearned. The first five Norse batters reached, and back-to-back doubles by Gick and Glass put NKU up 3-2. Following a walk, Liam McFadden-Ackman and Brandon Tucker both scored on Griffin Kain's single to right to increase the lead to 5-2.

The Penguins erased the deficit with three runs on three hits and an error in the bottom of the fifth. Good hit a leadoff double, and Dylan Swarmer plated Good with his own double two batters later. A walk and a fielding error loaded the bases, and Swarmer scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-4. NKU threw out a runner at the plate for the second out, but Braeden O'Shaughnessy came up with a clutch infield single with two outs to plate the older O'Shaughnessy again with the tying run.

NKU seized the lead right back with two quick runs in the top of the sixth. Brosky walked Tucker on a full count with one out, and Kain followed with a single to left. Both runners advanced into scoring position on Good's throw to third trying to retire Tucker, and Lucas Gulczynski capitalized with the infield in with a two-run single up the middle on what could have been a double-play ball.

Vorhees scored on a double play in the top of the seventh to put NKU up 8-5, and the Penguins shaved two runs off the deficit on one swing by Nasonti in the bottom half of the inning. Chase Franken hit a one-out single to left, and both he and Nasonti scored on a triple and error that made the score 8-7. Nasonti hit a fading fly ball to right that landed inside the foul line and got behind Gulczynski for the three-bagger, and Treyvin Moss, NKU's second baseman, dropped the relay throw out in right field to allow Nasonti to race home and avoid the tag at the plate.

Youngstown State stranded the tying runner at first in the eighth, and NKU got an insurance run in the ninth when Glass hit a leadoff homer to left center. Mulhern retired the Penguins in order in the bottom of the ninth.

The Penguins will host four more home games next week at Eastwood Field. Youngstown State will welcome Niagara on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in a non-conference contest, and a three-game Horizon League series with Milwaukee will begin Thursday at 5 p.m.