The Youngstown State baseball team got great pitching all day and swept a Horizon League doubleheader with a pair of 2-1 victories over Oakland on Friday at Eastwood Field.
The Penguins' pitching staff held the Golden Grizzlies to two runs on nine hits over 16 innings, and YSU's offense made the most of its 10 hits to edge Oakland twice.
Youngstown State moved into a tie with Oakland in the Horizon League standings with a 7-7 mark in conference play, and YSU is 14-24 overall. Oakland dropped to 17-20 with the pair of losses on Friday.
The Penguins won four of their last five games to finish up a 10-game homestand, and they will now head on the road for six straight games.
Seth Lucero, Braeden O'Shaughnessy, Steven D'Eusanio and Andre Good had hits in both games of the twin bill, and Lucero scored in each.
Youngstown State begins its six-game road swing on Sunday with another Horizon League doubleheader at Milwaukee. First pitch of game one against the Panthers is set for 1 p.m. Eastern. Both games will be broadcast live on YSNLive and ESPN+.
Game 1
In game one, Matt Brosky went the distance in the seven-inning affair to pick up his fourth victory of the season. He allowed six hits and walked just one batter while striking out seven Golden Grizzlies.
Offensively, five different Penguins had one hit, and Oakland held a 6-5 edge in the hits column.
Oakland had three of its six hits off Brosky in the first two innings but stranded all three runners, and the Penguins scored in the bottom of the second to take a 1-0 lead. D'Eusanio hit a one-out double to the left-center gap, and he scored two pitches later on Dominick Bucko's single to right. Good followed with a single to put two runners on, but Oakland starter Bret Hagen got Dylan Swarmer to bounce into a 5-4-3 double play to keep the margin at one.
Neither team scored in the third, and Oakland tied the score with a two-out single by Luke Manger in the top of the fourth. The Golden Grizzlies made an out on the basepaths to end a scoring threat in the top of the fifth, and Youngstown State broke the 1-1 tie with back-to-back hits to start the bottom of the sixth. Lucero ripped a 2-0 pitch for a leadoff triple to right-center, and O'Shaughnessy followed with a single inside the first-base line to provide the game-winning run.
Brosky retired the final six batters he faced in the game, and he set the Golden Grizzlies down in order in three different innings in the complete-game victory.
Hagen allowed one run on three hits and three walks over 4.1 innings, and reliever Brandon Decker allowed the run in the go-ahead run in the sixth.
Game 2
Oakland scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning of game two, but that was the only run that the Penguins allowed in the nine-inning contest.
Gabe Lux drew a nine-pitch walk to start the inning, and he came around to score without a hit. He advanced to second on a passed ball, then moved the next two bases on ground outs to second base.
Lucero sparked the offense again in game two when he led off the bottom of the fourth with a double to left. He moved to third on a one-out single by D'Eusanio, and Bucko tied the game with an RBI groundout. Good then followed with a two-out single to center that scored D'Eusanio from second with what turned out to be the winning run.
Travis Perry pitched 5.2 innings and allowed three hits while walking three batters and striking out five. Chad Coles came on in relief with two runners on in the sixth to strike out Cam Post to preserve the lead, and Casey Marshalwitz got the Penguins through the seventh and eighth innings unscathed. Nathan Ball worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth and recorded his eighth save, and Perry improved to 2-1 with the win.
Youngstown State had five players each record a hit in game two, and Oakland was limited to three hits.
