Weekend Preview

• The Youngstown State baseball team (17-33, 10-15 Horizon League) will host UIC (21-22, 13-9 Horizon League) for a three-game Horizon League series beginning on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. The Penguins and Flames will proceed to play on Friday at 11 a.m. and on Saturday at noon. It will be the final series of the regular season for both teams.
• Live audio will be available for all three games this weekend at YSNLive.com. Live stats for all three games will be available through links on YSUsports.com. Fans can also follow @YSUBaseball on Twitter for live updates.
• Junior right-hander Matt Brosky will start the series opener on Thursday while starters for Friday and Saturday are to be determined.
• YSU will be facing UIC for the second time in as many weeks. The Penguins and Flames split a league doubleheader in Chicago on Friday as YSU won game one 8-3 in seven innings and UIC took game two 7-3. The Flames hold a 67-30 edge in the all-time series, and they have won five of the last six meetings.
• The Penguins have won two of their last four games after splitting league doubleheaders at UIC and Northern Kentucky this past weekend. YSU snapped a seven-game losing skid with an 8-3 victory at UIC in game one on Friday and it defeated NKU 5-3 in game one of Sunday's doubleheader in Kentucky.
• The Penguins have two road wins over Power Five opponents this season. YSU defeated ACC member Pitt 5-2 on March 16 before beating Big Ten member Penn State 2-1 on March 22. The win against Penn State marked YSU's first win over a Big Ten opponent since 1996. The Penguins also took Big Ten member Ohio State to extra innings on April 5 before falling 5-4.
• YSU is three wins away from achieving back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2005-06. The Penguins have won at least 10 Horizon League games in two straight seasons for the first time since 2008-09.
• Senior catcher Dylan Swarmer was named Horizon League Batter of the Week on Tuesday after batting .385 and slugging 1.077 with five hits including three home runs and six RBIs in 13 at bats over four games played this past weekend. Swarmer hit two home runs in YSU's 5-3 victory at NKU on Sunday. It marked the second time in his career and the first time since 2019 that he homered twice in a game.
• Junior infielder Braeden O'Shaughnessy leads the Penguins with a .356 batting average, 68 hits, 14 doubles, seven home runs, 35 RBIs, a .550 slugging percentage, a .433 on-base percentage and 105 total bases. He leads the Horizon League in hits and batting average while also ranking in the top 10 in slugging, on-base percentage, RBIs, doubles, home runs, OPS and at bats.
• Junior right-hander Matt Brosky leads the Horizon League with 89 strikeouts and 83 innings pitched while ranking second with a .244 opponent batting average and a 3.04 ERA. Brosky also leads the league and ranks second in the nation with four complete games. The junior's 89 strikeouts already rank as the fifth most in a season in program history.
• Senior right-hander Chad Coles ranks third in the league with a .253 opponent batting average, eighth with 67.1 innings pitched and tied for eighth with 60 strikeouts. Coles ranks second in program history with 96 career appearances. Coles is just the second player is program history to record at least 90 appearances, joining his former teammate Joel Hake, who holds the YSU record with 115 career appearances.
• Senior first baseman Padraig O'Shaughnessy leads the Horizon League and ranks 20th in the nation with 44 walks. O'Shaughnessy's 44 walks rank as the second most in a season in program history, and they are the most by a Penguin since Steve Mefferd set the single-season school record with 52 walks in 2001.
• Junior left-hander Nathan Ball paces the Horizon League with nine saves. Ball's nine saves are tied for the second most in a season in program history. He is just the third player in school history to record at least nine saves in a season. He is the first Penguin to record at least nine saves in a season since Andy Svitak had nine in 2007. Marc Morgan set the single-season school record with 10 saves in 1995.
• Junior right-hander Casey Marshalwitz leads the league with a career-high 27 appearances. He is the first Penguin since 2017 to appear in at least 27 games on the mound.
• Senior catcher Dylan Swarmer has caught a league-best 24 runners attempting to steal.
• Senior third baseman Steven D'Eusanio is batting .315 over 23 games played since the start of April. He went 6-for-6 against Milwaukee on April 15, tying the school record for hits in a game. D'Eusanio hit four singles, a double and a home run to go 6-for-6 to match John Koehnlein's six-hit effort in seven at bats on May 24, 2007. D'Eusanio is tied for the team lead with seven home runs while ranking second on the squad with a .287 batting average, 47 hits, a .463 slugging percentage and 76 total bases.
• Senior outfielder Lucas Nasonti has played in 211 games over four-plus years as a Penguin. He currently ranks third in program history in career games played. He is just the 10th player in school history to play in at least 200 career games. Nasonti also ranks tied for fourth in program history with 200 games started. He is just the sixth player in school history to start at least 200 games.
• Senior right-hander Jon Snyder was named a National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper on March 21 after a stellar outing on March 18 at Purdue Fort Wayne. Snyder allowed just one hit and struck out a season-high 10 batters over 6.1 scoreless innings to lead the Penguins to a 4-0 victory. He was also named Horizon League Co-Pitcher of the Week on March 22.
• Sophomore infielder Seth Lucero was named Horizon League Batter of the Week on March 22 after batting .500 and slugging .850 with 10 hits in 20 at bats over four games played at Pitt and Purdue Fort Wayne.

Promotions and Fan Information

• Eastwood Field
• Thursday's series opener will feature a T-Shirt giveaway for YSU students.
• Friday will be the School Day Game presented by Akron Children's Hospital of the Mahoning Valley with hundreds of area students in attendance.
• Saturday's regular season finale will feature $4 16-ounce beer at the concession stand and a Lunch bag giveaway, courtesy of Premier Bank, Medical Mutual, Refresh Dental and WFMJ. It will also be Senior Day as YSU's senior class will be honored during a special ceremony before first pitch.
• Admission for fans is $5 and the gate will open approximately one hour prior to first pitch.

Youngstown State vs. UIC

• Snap a two-game losing skid at Eastwood Field.
• Improve's YSU's home record to 5-8.
• Improve the Penguins' overall record to 18-33.
• Improve YSU's Horizon League record to 11-15.
• Be the 332nd in head coach Dan Bertolini's career and his 103rd at Youngstown State.

• UIC is 21-22 overall and 13-9 in Horizon League play after dropping two of its last three games. The Flames are in third place in the conference standings.
• Senior outfielder Bryan Rosario is batting .333 and leads the Flames with 54 hits, 25 walks, a .443 on-base percentage and 11 stolen bases. Sophomore catcher Cole Conn leads UIC with 13 doubles, seven home runs and 39 RBIs.
• Sophomore left-hander Nate Peterson ranks second in the Horizon League with 85 strikeouts in 74.1 innings over 12 starts. Junior right-hander Tyler Ingram has a 3.47 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 70 innings over 12 starts. Senior right-hander Tanner Shears has made a team-high 22 appearances out of the bullpen.
• UIC posted a 30-18 overall record and an 28-11 mark in Horizon League play last season. The Flames were picked second out of seven teams in the 2022 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll.

• Overall: UIC leads 67-30
• Bertolini: 10-18 // Home: 24-22 // Away: 4-42 // Neutral: 2-3
• Current Win Streak: 1 by UIC
• First meeting: May 14, 2004 (W 11-8)
• YSU and UIC split a doubleheader on Friday with the Penguins winning game one 8-3 in seven innings and the Flames taking game two 7-3.
• Youngstown State and UIC met each season from 2004 to 2019 before the 2020 conference slate was wiped out due to COVID-19.
• YSU went 4-5 against UIC last season. The Penguins won three of four games at Eastwood Field before the Flames won three of four in Chicago. UIC also defeated YSU 7-4 in the first round of the 2021 Horizon League Tournament.
• With a 1-0 victory last season, the Penguins snapped a nine-game losing streak at UIC and picked up their first win in Chicago since 2016.

Recapping Northern Kentucky

• Dylan Swarmer hit two home runs and Chad Coles tossed 6.1 strong innings on the mound as Youngstown State 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.

• Kyle Klingenbeck tossed six shutout innings to lead Northern Kentucky to an 8-0 victory over Youngstown State 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.

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