Fifth-year senior right-hander Travis Perry allowed one run on two hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings to power the Youngstown State baseball team to a 6-2 victory over Memphis in the series opener on Friday at FedExPark in Memphis, Tenn.
The Penguins earned their first win of the 2023 season to improve to 1-4 on the season while Memphis fell to 3-2.
While Perry was masterful over six innings on the mound, his offense backed him with six runs on a season-high 11 hits. Steven D'Eusanio went 3-for-4 while tying the single-game school record with three doubles. The fifth-year senior first baseman added a run scored, a walk and an RBI. D'Eusanio became the first Penguin to double three times in a game since his former teammate Blaze Glenn did so against St. Bonaventure on March 21, 2021.
Trey Law went 3-for-4 with a double, a walk and a run scored while Ian Francis was 2-for-4 with a crucial three-run double. Andre Good went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored while Turner Grau singled, walked and scored a run.
Perry struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning to set the tone for what would be one of his best outings in a Penguin uniform. The Oil City, Pa., native went on to retire eight straight batters between the first and third innings. He retired the side in order in the second, third and fifth innings. Perry recorded at least one strikeout in each of the six innings he pitched, and he registered multiple punch-outs in three different frames.
The Penguins struck first with three runs in the top of the second inning. D'Eusanio hit a leadoff double before walks by Padraig O'Shaughnessy and Good loaded the bases with one out. After a strikeout, Francis delivered a bases-clearing, three-run double to right center field to give YSU a 3-0 lead.
Youngstown State threatened in the top of the fourth when Padraig O'Shaughnessy drew a leadoff walk and Good followed with a one-out double. However, Memphis starter Dalton Fowler was able to get back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the jam.
Memphis cut YSU's lead to 3-1 with one run on two hits in the bottom of the fourth. Anthony Hansen hit a leadoff single, Austin Baskin drew a one-out walk and Cameron Benson reached on an infield single to load the bases with one out. After Jonah Sutton drew a bases-loaded walk, Perry struck out back-to-back batters to limit the damage to just one run.
The score remained the same until the home half of the seventh inning when RJ Jimerson hit a one-out solo home run off Brandin Anderson to cut YSU's advantage to 3-2.
The Penguins pushed their lead back two runs in the top of the eighth inning. Braeden O'Shaughnessy and D'Eusanio drew back-to-back walks to begin the frame, and both runners moved up 90 feet on a groundout by Padraig O'Shaughnessy. After Matt Thompson struck out on a ball in the turf that was not fielded cleanly, Braeden O'Shaughnessy raced home as the catcher threw down the first base to increase YSU's lead to 4-2.
Memphis threatened in the bottom of the eighth as Baskin hit a one-out double and Sutton drew a two-out walk. However, Patrick Gumto came out of the bullpen for YSU and struck out pinch hitter Cade Hennemann to get out of the jam and preserve the two-run lead.
Youngstown State added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth to go up 6-2. Law hit a two-out single, raced to third when Grau followed with a base hit and scored when Braeden O'Shaughnessy reached on a dropped pop up for the first run of the inning. D'Eusanio then came through with an RBI double that plated Grau for YSU's final run.
Anderson was responsible for one run on one hit in two thirds of inning while Braden Gebhardt allowed one hit in one scoreless inning of relief. Gumto allowed two hits over 1.1 scoreless innings of relief to earn his first save of the season.
Fowler suffered the loss for Memphis after allowing three runs on seven hits and striking out 10 batters over 5.2 innings. Carson Stinnett was charged with one run on one hit with three strikeouts over two innings while Daniel Casto surrendered two unearned runs on three hits over 1.1 innings of work.
The Penguins and Tigers will continue their four-game series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. ET. Both games will be broadcast live on YSNLive.com.
