Penguins to Face Purdue Fort Wayne in Horizon League Baseball Championship

Wednesday, May 25

Dayton, OH

12 PM

Youngstown State University

Purdue Fort Wayne

Photo by: Robert Hayes

Penguins to Face Purdue Fort Wayne in Horizon League Baseball Championship

5/24/2022 3:00:00 PM | Baseball

Game Notes

Youngstown State vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
Wednesday - 12 p.m. ET	vs. Purdue Fort Wayne - Video \| Audio \| Live Stats
Live Tweets	@YSUBaseball \| @MastodonBSB \| #GoGuins

Game Preview

The fifth-seeded Youngstown State baseball team (19-34, 12-16 Horizon League) will face fourth-seeded Purdue Fort Wayne (18-35, 13-15 Horizon League) in game one of the 2022 Horizon League Baseball Championship on Wednesday at noon ET at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio. The contest between the Penguins and Mastodons will be an elimination game.
All games of the Horizon League Baseball Championship will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Live audio will be available at YSNLive.com. Live stats will be available through links on YSUsports.com. Fans can also follow @YSUBaseball on Twitter for live updates.
Junior right-hander Matt Brosky will take the mound to make his team-leading 15th start of the season. Brosky was named Horizon League Pitcher of the Year and First-Team All-Horizon League on Tuesday after leading the league with a 2.91 ERA and 89.2 innings pitched. He also ranked second in the league with 92 strikeouts and a .243 opponent batting average while tying for the league lead with five victories. Brosky also leads the league and ranks third in the nation with four complete games.
Brosky becomes the fifth player in school history to be named a conference Pitcher of the Year, joining Collin Floyd (2021), Aaron Swenson (2008), Justin Thomas (2005) and Brad Hennessey (2001). Brosky also becomes just the second YSU pitcher since 2009 to be named First-Team All-Horizon League.
YSU will be facing Purdue Fort Wayne for the fourth time this season. YSU won two out of three games between the teams back on March 18-20. The Penguins earned a 4-0 victory in the series opener at Mastodon Field on March 18. The Mastodons picked up an 8-7 win in game one of a doubleheader on March 20 before the Penguins took game two 12-6.
The Penguins have won three of their last five games after winning two of three games against UIC at Eastwood Field this past weekend. YSU took game one against the Flames 6-4 on Thursday before winning game two 10-6 on Friday.
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 one win away from achieving back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2005-06. With a 12-16 record in league play this season, the Penguins have won at least 10 Horizon League games in two straight seasons for the first time since 2008-09.
Junior infielder and First-Team All-Horizon League selection Braeden O'Shaughnessy leads the Penguins with a .366 batting average, 75 hits, 16 doubles, seven home runs, 40 RBIs, 35 runs scored, a .556 slugging percentage, a .437 on-base percentage and 114 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, OPS and at bats. O'Shaughnessy became the first Penguin since John Koehnlein in 2007 to lead the Horizon League in batting.
Senior right-hander Chad Coles ranks third in the league with a .247 opponent batting average, eighth with 69.2 innings pitched and ninth with 61 strikeouts. Coles ranks second in program history with 98 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 28th in the nation with 45 walks. O'Shaughnessy's 45 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 and ranks 30th nationally 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 ranks 35th in the nation with a career-high 28 appearances. He is the first Penguin since 2017 to appear in at least 28 games on the mound.
Senior third baseman Steven D'Eusanio is batting .304 over 26 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 .282 batting average, 50 hits, 33 runs scored, a .446 slugging percentage and 79 total bases.
Senior outfielder Lucas Nasonti has played in 214 games over four-plus years as a Penguin. He currently ranks second 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 fourth in program history with 203 games started. He is just the sixth player in school history to start at least 200 games.
Senior catcher Dylan Swarmer has caught a league-best 25 runners attempting to steal.
Swarmer was named Horizon League Batter of the Week on May 17 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. Swarmer hit two home runs in YSU's 5-3 victory at NKU on March 15. It marked the second time in his career and the first time since 2019 that he homered twice in a game.
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.

Youngstown State vs. Purdue Fort Wayne

A Win on Wednesday Would...

Mark YSU's first win in the Horizon League Tournament since 2018.
Give YSU back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2005-06.
Improve the Penguins' overall record to 20-34.
Be the 334th in head coach Dan Bertolini's career and his 105th at Youngstown State.

Scouting The Mastodons

Purdue Fort Wayne finished the regular season at 18-35 overall and 13-15 in Horizon League play to earn the fourth seed in the 2022 Horizon League Baseball Championship.
Junior catcher Cade Fitzpatrick is batting .321 and slugging .547 with eight home runs and 33 RBIs. Senior infielder Jack Lang is batting .309 and slugging .552 with 13 doubles, 10 home runs, 30 RBIs and a team-high 13 stolen bases.
Senior left-hander Justin Miller leads PFW with 54 strikeouts in 46.2 innings pitched over 17 appearances and seven starts. Senior right-hander JD Deany has 51 strikeouts in a team-high 65.1 innings over 18 appearances and nine starts.
Purdue Fort Wayne posted an 11-35 overall record and an 8-28 mark in Horizon League play last season. The Mastodons were picked seventh out of seven teams in the 2022 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll.

Series History

Overall: Youngstown State leads 12-5
Bertolini: 8-3 // Home: 3-1 // Away: 9-4
Current Win Streak: 1 by Youngstown State
First meeting: April 17, 2004 (W 6-1)
Youngstown State won two of three games against Purdue Fort Wayne in March. The Penguins took the opener 4-0 at Mastodon Field in Fort Wayne before the remainder of the series was moved to Defiance High School in Defiance, Ohio. The Mastodons took game one of a doubleheader 8-7 before the Penguins won the series finale 12-6.
YSU won six of eight meetings between the two teams last season. The Penguins won three of four games at Defiance High School in Defiance, Ohio, in March before winning three of four contests at Eastwood Field in May.
Last season marked the first meetings between the two programs since 2005 – it was Purdue Fort Wayne's first season in the Horizon League.

Recapping UIC

Game 1 - Thursday, May 19 // W 6-4

Youngstown State 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.
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.

Game 2 - Friday, May 20 // W 10-6

Youngstown State scored eight unanswered runs and came from behind to beat UIC for the second straight day with a 10-6 victory on Friday afternoon at Eastwood Field. The contest was the annual School Day Game, presented by Akron Children's Hospital of the Mahoning Valley, and an estimated 3,200 area students were in attendance.
Youngstown State led 2-0 after an inning, but UIC scored three runs in the top of the second to take a 3-2 lead. The Penguins tied the score in the bottom of second, took the lead with two runs in the fifth and blew the game open with seven singles in a five-run sixth. The Flames scored three runs and brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the eighth, but YSU senior reliever Chad Coles slammed the door to record his first save of the season.
Eight different Penguins combined for 16 hits, and Padraig O'Shaughnessy and Dylan Swarmer both had three hits from the seventh and eighth spots in YSU's lineup. Steven D'Eusanio was 2-for-4 with four RBIs, and Braeden O'Shaughnessy, Dominick Bucko and Trey Law also had two hits.
YSU starter Jon Snyder, a fifth-year senior, pitched 3.2 innings and allowed three runs on three hits and five walks before handing the ball to Alex Cardona for the final out in the fourth. Travis Perry earned his third victory of the campaign, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks over three innings that provided stability out of the bullpen. The first two runs of the eighth went against Perry, and Nick Perez was charged with the other run of the inning.

Game 3 - Saturday, May 21 // L 6-18

UIC scored seven runs over the first three innings on its way to a 18-6 victory over the Youngstown State in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday at Eastwood Field. YSU honored its senior class with a special Senior Day ceremony before first pitch.
Braeden O'Shaughnessy went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs while Dylan Swarmer and Turner Grau had two hits apiece. The Penguins had 10 different players record a hit in the contest. UIC outhit YSU 15-14 for the ballgame.
YSU starter Lane Rhodes suffered the loss after allowing five runs on six hits with three strikeouts over two innings of work. Rhodes was one of eight different pitchers to appear in the contest for the Penguins.
Ryan Nagelbach went 3-for-7 with two home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored while Breck Nowick was 3-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs. The Flames hit a total of six home runs and drew 10 walks on the day.

Up Next

If the Penguins advance past Purdue Fort Wayne, they would play again on Thursday at 11 a.m. against No. 1 Wright State or at 3 p.m. against No. 2 Oakland. The Raiders will face the lowest remaining seed after Wednesday's elimination games while the Golden Grizzlies will face the highest remaining seed.