Dylan Swarmer hit two home runs in a 5-3 victory in game one to give the Youngstown State baseball team a doubleheader split at Northern Kentucky on Sunday.
Swarmer homered twice in a game for the second time in his career and
Turner Grau went deep as well to back a strong start from
Chad Coles in game one of Sunday's Horizon League twinbill at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
NKU scored once in the third inning and four times in the fourth on its way to an 8-0 victory in game two of the doubleheader.
Youngstown State is now 17-33 overall and 10-15 in Horizon League play while Northern Kentucky is 17-30 overall and 10-15 in league action.
Game 1 Recap
Swarmer hit two home runs and Coles tossed 6.1 strong innings on the mound as the Youngstown State baseball team defeated Northern Kentucky 5-3 on Sunday in game one of a Horizon League doubleheader at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
Swarmer homered twice in a game for the second time in his career. He also went deep twice against Wright State at Eastwood Field as a freshman on May 4, 2019. He is the first Penguin to hit two home runs in a game since
Andre Good hit a pair of bombs against Purdue Fort Wayne back on March 20.
Coles allowed three runs, two of which were earned, on eight hits with six strikeouts over 6.1 innings to earn his fourth victory of the season. After surrendering an unearned run in the bottom of the second, Coles blanked the Norse for four straight frames before NKU scored twice in the seventh.
Nathan Ball came on in the bottom of the seventh inning and retired both batters he faced to collect his ninth save of the campaign.
YSU's offense backed Coles with 10 hits, which was two more than NKU logged for the ballgame. In addition to Swarmer's two solo home runs,
Turner Grau went 2-for-3 with his first home run of the season.
Braeden O'Shaughnessy had two doubles and scored twice while
Dominick Bucko went 2-for-3 with an RBI triple and an RBI single.
Northern Kentucky struck first with an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning. Liam McFadden-Ackman reached on an error, advanced to third on another YSU miscue and scored on an RBI single by Brandon Tucker to give the Norse a 1-0 edge.
Youngstown State evened the score immediately in the top of the third when Swarmer led off the frame with a solo home run to left field. Three batters later, Grau belted his first homer of the season to left to put YSU in front 2-1. After
Braeden O'Shaughnessy doubled, Bucko delivered an RBI triple down the left field line to give the Penguins a 3-1 advantage.
The Guins increased their lead to 4-1 in the top of the fourth inning when Swarmer hit his second solo blast of the contest to center field with two outs. Youngstown State pushed its lead to 5-1 in the top of the seventh when
Braeden O'Shaughnessy hit a leadoff double and Bucko followed with an RBI single up the middle.
NKU threatened in the bottom of the seventh as Tucker hit a one-out single and Hall followed with a pinch-hit single. Manny Vorhees then came through with an RBI single up the middle before Coles gave way to Ball out of the bullpen. Treyvin Moss drove in a run with an RBI groundout before Ball got Ryan Glass to ground out to end the game.
NKU starter Ben Gerl suffered the loss after allowing five runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts and five walks over 6.2 innings.
Noah Fisher, Tucker and Vorhees each had two hits to pace the Norse offensively.
Game 2 Recap
Kyle Klingenbeck tossed six shutout innings to lead Northern Kentucky to an 8-0 victory over the Youngstown State baseball team in game two of Sunday's Horizon League doubleheader at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
Klingenbeck scattered three hits and struck out four batters over six scoreless innings to earn the victory. NKU's offense backed its starter with eight runs on 10 hits and it took advantage of three YSU errors.
After scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the third, the Norse struck for four runs in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead. Northern Kentucky went on to add one run in the sixth and two more in the seventh.
Braeden O'Shaughnessy went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles while Nasonti, Grau and Good each had a base hit as well.
YSU starter
Travis Perry took the loss after allowing five runs, four of them earned, on eight hits and striking out four batters over 3.2 innings.
Alex Cardona walked two batters without recording an out and
Jon Snyder was tagged with one unearned run in 2.1 innings of relief.
Casey Marshalwitz was responsible for two runs on two hits in one inning of work and
Will Shaffer retired the side in order in the eighth.
Northern Kentucky jumped in front with an unearned run on two hits and an error in the bottom of the third inning. Vorhees hit a one-out single, advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on an RBI single up the middle by Moss.
The Norse then struck for four runs on four hits in the home half of the fourth to take a 5-0 edge. Fisher hit a leadoff single and came around to score on an RBI triple by Griffin Kain. Later in the frame, Zack Minton delivered an RBI single and Vorhees added a two-run double.
NKU pushed its lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the sixth when Tucker reached on an error and came around to score on a wild pitch. The Norse extended their advantage to 8-0 when Tucker hit a two-run single in the home half of the seventh inning.
Vorhees went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs to lead the Norse offensively. Kain went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple and two runs scored while Tucker had a pair of RBIs and scored twice.
Andrew Mulhern struck out three batters over 1.2 innings of relief before Bryson Lonsbury did not allow a hit over the final 1.1 innings.
Youngstown State will return home on Thursday to begin a three-game Horizon League series against UIC at Eastwood Field. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on YSNLive.com.
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