Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Matt Brosky saved his best performance of 2022 for the postseason in a 6-0 shutout victory over Purdue Fort Wayne in the opening round of the conference tournament on Wednesday.
Brosky struck out 10 batters and allowed only three baserunners at Wright State's Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday as the Penguins won a conference tournament game for the first time since 2018. Youngstown State will advance to the double-elimination portion of the tournament on Thursday against either Wright State or Oakland at a time that will be determined later Wednesday.
Youngstown State improves to 20-34 overall to reach 20 wins in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2005 and 2006. Last year's squad went 32-24 but lost twice in the conference tournament, and Brosky made sure the Penguins wouldn't face an early exit in 2022 as he took the mound in an elimination game.
The junior right-hander from Strongsville, Ohio, needed only 99 pitches and allowed just one runner to reach scoring position, which came due to a passed ball in the third inning. He allowed just three hits, one of which was an infield single, and the Mastodons managed just two outfield fly outs. Of the 27 outs Brosky recorded, 10 were strikeouts, nine were groundouts and eight were fly outs.
Offensively, five Penguins had two hits as Youngstown State held a 12-3 edge in the hits column. Braeden O'Shaughnessy, who joined Brosky on the All-Horizon League First Team, went 2-for-4 and drove in the game's first run in the top of the fifth inning.
Brosky cruised through the first four innings, recording six strikeouts and throwing just 38 pitches, and YSU's offense was able to break through in the top of the fifth with a pair of two-out runs. Trey Law singled to right with one out to kickstart the inning, and Lucas Nasonti singled through the right side of the infield with the second baseman running to cover the bag as Law was in motion. Following a strikeout, O'Shaughnessy and Dominick Bucko hit back-to-back RBI singles to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.
That was all the support Brosky would need, but YSU kept adding runs to back Brosky, who earned his sixth victory of the season. The Penguins scored once in the sixth, twice in the eighth and once in the ninth, and four of their six runs came with two outs.
In the sixth, Dylan Swarmer took advantage of some good fortune when Purdue Fort Wayne's shortstop got his feet tangled up with the third-base umpire running for a catchable foul ball. Swarmer used the second chance with hit a two-out single, and he scored on Law's RBI double over the left-fielder's head to make the score 3-0.
In the eighth, YSU had its leadoff batter reach for the first time as Andre Good ripped a double and scored on Padraig O'Shaughnessy's RBI single. O'Shaughnessy then advanced to second when Swarmer was hit by a pitch, stole third and scored on Nasonti's safety squeeze bunt to put the Penguins ahead 5-0. YSU added an insurance run in the ninth when Steven D'Eusanio drew a leadoff walk, advanced on a balk and a ground out and scored on a wild pitch.
Both O'Shaughnessy brothers had two hits, and Good, Swarmer and Law also had two hits apiece. Good and Law both had doubles, and YSU's other 10 hits were singles.
Brosky didn't allow a leadoff batter to reach until the eighth inning, and he retired the Mastodons in order in six of the nine innings. He had two strikeouts in the first and third innings, and he had at least one strikeout in eight of the nine frames.
Brosky became the first Penguin to pitch a shutout in the Horizon League Baseball Championship, and he joined Jeremy Quinlan (2014) and Corey Ohalek (2002) as the only YSU pitchers to toss a complete game in the tournament. Brosky also tied Phil Klein's 10-strikeout effort in 2011 for the most strikeouts in a game by a Penguin in the Horizon League's tournament.
Brosky's eighth strikeout of the day gave him 100 for the season, and he finished the afternoon with 102. He is just the fourth Penguin ever to reach at least 100 punchouts in a season, joining Brad Hennessey (2001), Klein (2011), and Collin Floyd (2021), Brosky's former teammate who was named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year last season. Brosky also upped his innings total in 2022 to 98.2, which is the fifth-highest single-season total ever by a Penguin.
Purdue Fort Wayne starter JD Deany allowed three runs on nine hits while striking out six batters in 5.2 innings. He needed 105 pitches to get 17 outs while Brosky recorded all 27 outs on 99 pitches. The Penguins scored twice off of reliever Rex Stills, and their insurance run in the ninth went against Justin Miller, who recorded the final six outs for the Mastodons.
