The Youngstown State baseball team dropped a 9-3 decision to No. 6 Wake Forest on Friday in its second game on opening day at David F. Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Demon Deacons scored once in the first inning and six times in the second to open up a 7-0 lead. Wake Forest added single runs in the fourth and seventh to push its advantage to 9-0 before the Penguins plated three runs in the top of the eighth for the final margin.
YSU falls to 0-2 on the season while Wake Forest won its season and home opener to go to 1-0.
Padraig O'Shaughnessy went 2-for-4 and drove in a run to lead the YSU offense while Braeden O'Shaughnessy and Steven D'Eusanio also had hits for the Penguins.
In the eighth, Eddie Saucedo reached on a catcher's interference to lead off the frame, and Chase Franken and Trey Law were each hit by pitches to load the bases with nobody out. Turner Grau drove in Saucedo with a sacrifice fly to left field, and Braeden O'Shaughnessy and Padraig O'Shaughnessy each had run-scoring singles to plate Franken and Law, respectively.
Wake Forest jumped in front with one run on one hit and two walks in the bottom of the first inning. Pierce Bennett hit a one-out single and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Jake Reinisch to give the Demon Deacons a 1-0 lead.
The Demon Deacons extended their lead to 7-0 with six runs on four hits in the home half of the second inning. Adam Cecere led off the frame with a solo home run to right field before two hits and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Bennett drew a bases loaded walk before Nick Kurtz hit a grand slam to right center field.
Kurtz hit his second homer of the game, this one a solo shot, in the bottom of the fourth to make it 8-0 Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons scored their final run on an RBI single by Bennett in the home half of the seventh. Kurtz went 2-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs while Bennett, Danny Corona and Marek Houston added two hits apiece.
In his first collegiate start, Brandon Mikos allowed eight runs on six hits with four strikeouts and five walks over four innings in a losing effort. Brandin Anderson and Aidan English each tossed a scoreless inning of relief in their first-career appearances. Making his collegiate debut, Zach Stayduhar was responsible for one run on four hits while striking out a pair of batters over two innings of relief.
Wake Forest starter Seth Keener earned the victory after allowing one hit and striking out eight over five innings. Reed Mascolo tossed two scoreless innings of relief before Joe Ariola allowed three runs, one of them earned, on two hits in two thirds of an inning. Cole Roland came on to finish the game by working 1.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
Youngstown State will face Illinois on Saturday at noon at David F. Couch Ballpark. The game will be broadcast live on YSNLive.com.
