The Youngstown State baseball team came up short in a late-night, low-scoring affair against Oakland for the second time in 23 hours and fell 4-2 in the 2022 Horizon League Baseball Championship.
Facing elimination for the third time in as many days, the Penguins battled the second-seeded Golden Grizzlies to try and stay alive but couldn't come up with a timely hit. Youngstown State held a 9-6 advantage in the hits column, but the Penguins struck out 13 times, went 4-for-18 with runners on base and stranded 10 runners.
Youngstown State bows out of the Horizon League Baseball Championship after winning two games in the tournament for the first time since 2014, and it finishes the 2022 season with a 21-36 record. The Penguins played 57 games for the first time in program history, and Braeden and Padraig O'Shaughnessy set school records by playing in all 57. Braeden O'Shaughnessy also set the school record with 57 starts.
Each O'Shaughnessy brother had two hits to lead the Penguins offensively in Friday's elimination game against Oakland, which moves on to play for the Horizon League Championship for the first time. YSU fell 2-0 to the Golden Grizzlies in a game that started at 9:15 p.m. on Thursday and went past midnight on Friday.
For the fourth straight game in the tournament, Youngstown State had a pitcher step up when called upon. This time it was Nick Perez's turn, who allowed one run on two hits over six innings of relief. He entered the game with one out in the second inning, and he did not allow a hit until a leadoff single in the eighth.
Nathan Ball, who served as YSU's closer during the season, made his first career start and battled through 1.1 innings. He was charged with three runs on three hits and three walks, and the loss went on his record. Chad Coles, who started against Oakland on Thursday night, relieved Perez in the bottom of the eighth and recorded the final two outs of the night. It was Coles' 100th and final time taking the mound as a Penguin, and he finished his career ranking second all-time in appearances.
Youngstown State scored the game's first run in the top of the first with two singles and a costly Oakland error. Lucas Nasonti led off with a bloop single to left-center, and Turner Grau replaced him on a fielder's choice. One pitch later, Braeden O'Shaughnessy hit a line drive in front of center fielder Seth Tucker, who misplayed the hop and had the ball go behind him. Grau was able to score from first, and O'Shaughnessy went to third on the single and two-base error. Dominick Bucko hit a line drive right at shortstop Thomas Green for a bad-luck out, and Oakland starter Travis Densmore got an inning-ending ground out to minimize the damage.
After Ball struck out Tucker on three pitches to start the bottom of the first inning, Oakland tied the score with back-to-back hits on 2-2 pitches. Jared Miller doubled to the right-center gap, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single to center by Brenton Phillips.
The Golden Grizzlies added two runs in the bottom of the second to take a 3-1 lead, and YSU played from behind the rest of the night. Ball issued back-to-back walks on full counts to start the inning, and Gabe Lux singled past a diving Braeden O'Shaughnessy at second to plate Luke Malmanger from second. Ball struck out Tucker for the first out, but a double steal set the stage for Jared Miller's sacrifice fly that provided Oakland's second run of the inning. Miller was the first batter that Perez faced, and the sophomore right-hander allowed four baserunners over the third through seventh innings as he kept the Penguins in the game.
Youngstown State's only other run came in the third inning when Braeden O'Shaughnessy hit a one-out triple down the left-field line and scored on Bucko's double. Bucko was thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple, and YSU didn't get another runner in scoring position until the sixth.
As Perez was cruising, Youngstown State couldn't break through against Densmore, who struck out nine batters over his seven innings of work. YSU left runners on in six of the seven innings against Densmore, including two in the sixth after Padraig O'Shaughnessy and Dylan Swarmer hit back-to-back two-out singles.
With the score still 3-2, Youngstown State had its best scoring chance in the eighth. Steven D'Eusanio drew a leadoff walk, and Padraig O'Shaughnessy singled on a two-strike pitch to put two runners on with one out. Both Penguins advanced 90 feet on an errant pickoff attempt, but Oakland reliever Brandon Decker struck out Swarmer and Trey Law to end the threat.
Cam Post led off the bottom of the eighth with a single up the middle, the first hit off of Perez, and Oakland followed with a sacrifice bunt and a pinch-hit single to put runners at the corners. Coles came on and got a clutch strikeout of Green, but Gabe Lux beat out a bunt single to bring in Post as an insurance run.
Decker earned his fourth save of the season for Oakland by retiring the Penguins in order in the ninth.
