Braeden O'Shaughnessy hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Chad Coles pitched seven strong innings on the mound as the Youngstown State baseball team beat Milwaukee 4-2 on Thursday evening at Eastwood Field.
The Penguins trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in the game, but they scored once in the fifth, once in the sixth and twice in the seventh to pick up their first home win of the campaign. Youngstown State is now 11-23 overall and 4-6 in Horizon League play, and Milwaukee is 11-15 overall and 2-6 against the the conference.
Dylan Swarmer had a game-high three hits from the eighth spot in the Penguins' lineup, and O'Shaughnesy, Seth Lucero and Andre Good each had two hits. O'Shaughnessy had three RBIs and a run scored as the only player to drive in multiple runs.
Coles walked five of the first seven batters he faced in the game, but he settled in and pitched seven innings to earn his first win as a starting pitcher in his career. After the early command struggles, Coles walked just one of the final 24 batters he faced. He allowed five hits and six walks while striking out four batters in what was the longest outing of his career.
Casey Marshalwitz got one out in the top of the eighth before handing the ball to closer Nathan Ball, who retired all five batters he faced.
Nate DeYoung went 2-for-3 with a run score to lead Milwaukee, which was outhit 11-7 in the game.
Coles labored in the top of the first with four walks and 33 pitches, but he escaped the inning allowing just one run. He issued free passes to the first three batters of the inning, and the run scored on a slow grounder to second base by cleanup batter Aaron Chapman. DeYoung walked on 10 pitches to reload the bases, but Coles got Mark Connelly to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Coles benefited from another double play, this time in a lineout, in a scoreless top of the second. The double play lineout allowed Coles to settle in as he retired nine of the next 10 hitters. He allowed two baserunners in the fifth, but he got a fly out and a strikeout to end the inning and keep YSU's deficit at 1-0.
The Penguins tied the score with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth as Padraig O'Shaughnessy reached on an error to start the inning and scored three batters later on a fielder's choice by his younger brother. Padraig O'Shaughnessy advanced to second on a walk to Lucas Nasonti, and he advanced to third on Lucero's long fly out to center. Braeden O'Shaughnessy then hit a double play ball that the second baseman fumbled initially, which allowed him to beat the throw at first from the shortstop on the turn.
The Panthers went back ahead in the top of the sixth when Chapman led off with a single and scored on an RBI double by DeYoung that got behind a diving Austin Earl in right field. A ground out advanced DeYoung to third with one out, but he was thrown out at the plate by O'Shaughnessy as the score remained 2-1.
Good led off the bottom of the sixth with a soft infield hit, and Swarmer hit a one-out double to put runners at second and third. Dominick Bucko came off the bench to hit a sacrifice fly to plate Good and tie the game at 2-2.
Coles yielded a meaningless one-out single to seventh in what was his final inning of work, and the offense came through in the bottom half to reward the Penguins' starter with a victory. Lucero got it started with an opposite-field single, and O'Shaughnessy overcame an 0-2 hole in the count to deliver the winning homer. After falling behind 0-2, O'Shaughnessy saw two balls and fouled off three pitches before blasting a towering two-run blast to almost straightaway center to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead.
The Panthers didn't make it easy in the eighth off the bullpen as back-to-back singles put runners at the corners with nobody out. Marshalwitz got Jack Thelen to fly out to shallow centerfield for the first out, and Ball came in to turn around the switch-hitting designated hitter Tommy Benson. Ball struck him out, then proceeded to get Mitchell Buban to fly out to right to preserve the lead. Facing the top of the order in the ninth, Ball induced two fly outs and struck out Conner Goodman to end the game and earn his seventh save.
Milwaukee starter Riley Frey allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on nine hits and a walk over 6.1 innings of work. He struck out eight Penguins, and reliever Eliot Turnquist struck out two batters while allowing two hits in 1.2 innings.
Youngstown State will try to win the three-game series on Friday as it hosts Milwaukee again on Friday at 3 p.m.
