The Youngstown State baseball team overcame an early 4-0 deficit on its way to 6-4 victory over UIC in the Horizon League series opener on Thursday at Eastwood Field.
The Flames scored three runs in the first inning and one in the third to a take a 4-0 edge before the Penguins scored the final six runs of the contest.
Youngstown State improves to 18-33 overall and 11-15 in Horizon League play while UIC falls to 21-23 overall and 13-10 in league action.
With the game tied 4-4,
Braeden O'Shaughnessy led off the bottom of the eighth inning with an infield single to third base and
Dominick Bucko advanced him to third with a single. After UIC reliever Jeff Zack retired two straight batters, he committed a balk when Bucko broke to steal second base that brought O'Shaughnessy home to give YSU the lead.
Padraig O'Shaughnessy then came through with a two-out RBI single to right field that plated Bucko to give the Penguins a 6-4 edge.
Nathan Ball, who entered the game in the top of the eighth, induced two quick groundouts and struck out Rayth Petersen after a two-out walk in the top of the ninth to secure his first victory of the season.
Braeden O'Shaughnessy and Bucko each went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored while
Andre Good hit his fifth home run of the season. UIC outhit YSU 8-7 for the contest and each team committed a pair of errors.
YSU starter
Matt Brosky allowed four runs, one of them earned, on six hits while striking out three batters with four walks over 6.2 innings in a no-decision.
Chad Coles and
Casey Marshalwitz each worked a third of an inning before Ball came on to toss 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.
The Flames struck first with three unearned runs on two hits and two errors in the top of the first inning. Ryan Lin-Peistrup drew a leadoff walk, Bryan Rosario reached on an error and Breck Nowick reached on a one-out error to load the bases. Ryan Nagelbach delivered a two-run single and Petersen followed with an RBI single to give UIC a 3-0 lead.
The Flames pushed their advantage to 4-0 when Nagelbach led off the top of the third inning with a solo home run to right center.
The Penguins scored three unearned runs on two hits and two errors in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut UIC's lead to 4-3.
Padraig O'Shaughnessy drew a one-out walk and
Dylan Swarmer followed with single. O'Shaughnessy then scored on an error and Swarmer raced home on a sacrifice fly by
Turner Grau.
Braeden O'Shaughnessy delivered a two-out RBI double to make it a one-run game.
YSU tied the game at 4-4 in the home half of the sixth inning when Good hit a one-out solo home run to right center field.
The Flames threatened in the top of the eighth when they used two singles and a walk to load the bases with one out. Ball came on in relief of Marshalwitz and proceed to induce a foul out and a fly out to keep the game knotted at 4-4.
UIC starter Nate Peterson surrendered four runs, one of them earned, on four hits with eight strikeouts and two walks over six innings of work. Zack was responsible for two runs on three hits in two innings out of the bullpen in a losing effort.
Nagelbach went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and three RBIs to lead the Flames offensively.
The Penguins and Flames will continue their three-game Horizon League series on Friday at 11 a.m. It will be the School Day Game, presented by Akron Children's Hospital of the Mahoning Valley with thousands of area students in attendance. The game will be broadcast live on YSNLive.com.
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