Baseball Begins Homestand with Three-Game HL Series vs. Purdue Fort Wayne

Friday, March 31

Niles, Ohio

6:15 p.m.

Youngstown State University

Purdue Fort Wayne

Photo by: Robert Hayes

Baseball Begins Homestand with Three-Game HL Series vs. Purdue Fort Wayne

3/30/2023 12:11:00 PM | Baseball

Game Notes

Youngstown State vs. Purdue Fort Wayne

Date	Location	Audio	Live Stats
Friday March 31 \| 6:15 PM ET	Eastwood Field Niles, Ohio	YSNLive.com	Live Stats
Saturday April 1 \| 3 PM ET	Eastwood Field Niles, Ohio	YSNLive.com	Live Stats
Sunday April 2 \| 1 PM ET	Eastwood Field Niles, Ohio	YSNLive.com	Live Stats

Weekend Preview

The Youngstown State baseball team (5-18, 2-3 Horizon League) will open a three-game Horizon League series against Purdue Fort Wayne (6-19, 3-3 Horizon League) on Friday at 6 p.m. ET at Eastwood Field. The Penguins and Mastodons will proceed to play on Saturday at 3 p.m. before concluding the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Live audio will be available for all three games of the series at YSNLive.com. Live stats will be available through links on YSUsports.com. Fans can also follow @YSUBaseball on Twitter for live updates.
Fifth-year senior right-hander Travis Perry will take the mound for YSU in the series opener, junior right-hander Nick Perez is scheduled to start game two on Saturday and freshman right-hander Aidan English is slated to start the series finale on Sunday.
Friday's series opener begins a season-long seven-game homestand for the Penguins at Eastwood Field. YSU will not play another road game until April 10 at Pitt. In total, Youngstown State will play eight of its next nine games at Eastwood Field.
YSU has dropped its last two games after falling 7-2 at Toledo on Tuesday. The Penguins split a Horizon League doubleheader at Milwaukee on Friday. Youngstown State took game one 2-1 before falling 9-2 in game two. The series finale was cancelled to heavy snowfall in Wisconsin.
Travis Perry allowed one unearned run and scattered five hits with six strikeouts over a season-high seven innings to lead YSU to a 2-1 victory over Milwaukee in game one of Friday's doubleheader. The Oil City, Pa, native earned his third victory of the 2023 season.
The Penguins won their 2023 home and Horizon League opener with an 18-3 victory over Oakland at Eastwood Field on March 16. YSU set new season highs with 18 runs and 21 hits while winning its league opener for the third straight season. The Guins recorded at least 18 runs and 21 hits for the first time since posting 22 runs and 21 hits in a 22-6 victory over St. Bonaventure on March 21, 2021. YSU has won its Horizon League opener in three straight seasons for the first time in program history.
The Penguins split a four-game series at Baylor on March 3-5. YSU's 7-5 victory on March 3 marked its first win over a Big 12 opponent since 2013. The Penguins now have four wins over Power Five opponents in the last two seasons and eight during Dan Bertolini's tenure as head coach.
Redshirt junior shortstop Trey Law was named Horizon League Co-Batter of the Week on Feb. 28 after batting .556 and slugging .611 with 10 hits in 18 at bats over four games played at Memphis on Feb. 24-26. In addition, senior right-hander Travis Perry was named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week after leading YSU to a 6-2 victory in the series opener at Memphis on Feb. 24. Perry allowed one run on two hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings.
Through games played on Tuesday, YSU ranks second in the Horizon League with 208 hits and 46 doubles while ranking third with 119 runs scored, 112 RBIs, 306 total bases and a .391 slugging percentage.
Senior right-hander Travis Perry leads the Horizon League with 33 innings pitched and a .195 opponent batting average while ranking second with 33 strikeouts and three victories. He also ranks fourth in the circuit with a 3.55 ERA. Junior right-hander Nick Perez ranks ninth in the league with 26 innings pitched and 10th with 24 strikeouts.
Senior infielder Steven D'Eusanio leads the Horizon League and ranks 38th nationally with 10 doubles while ranking 10th in the league with 26 hits. The Willoughby, Ohio, native has hit safely in nine straight games entering the weekend.
Junior infielder Trey Law leads the league with 33 hits while ranking fourth with a .355 batting average, fifth with seven doubles, seventh with 13 walks and a .450 on-base percentage and eighth with 19 runs. The Camp Hill, Pa., native has now hit safely in 18 of his last 20 games. He has also now reached base safely in each of his last 10 contests.
Senior infielder Braeden O'Shaughnessy ranks fifth in the Horizon League with 28 hits and 10th with a .318 batting average. Senior first baseman Padraig O'Shaughnessy ranks fourth in the league with 23 RBIs and fifth with four home runs, seven doubles and 14 walks. He also ranks 10th in the league with a .513 slugging percentage.
Senior outfielder Turner Grau ranks second in the Horizon League with two triples, fifth with seven stolen bases and ninth with 12 walks. Senior outfielder Andre Good ranks fifth in the league with seven doubles.
Freshman right-hander Brandin Anderson ranks second in the Horizon League and 53rd nationally with 12 pitching appearances.
YSU was picked fourth in the 2023 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll. Wright State was tabbed as the preseason favorite while Oakland was picked second and Milwaukee was selected third. Northern Kentucky came in at fifth while Purdue Fort Wayne was slotted sixth. The Penguins were picked to finish third by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and fifth by D1Baseball.com.

Fan Information & Promotions

Eastwood Field
2023 YSU Baseball Promotions Schedule
All tickets for YSU baseball home games are $5 and can be purchased at the front gate, which will open approximately one hour prior to first pitch.
Friday's series opener will feature $2 Hot Dog Wally hot dogs and $1 pop at the concession stand.
Saturday's contest will feature a Lunch Bag Giveaway and $4 16-ounce beer at the concession stand.
Sunday's series finale will be a "Dunkin' Sunday" where fans receive a $5 Dunkin' gift card if YSU scores five runs or more.

YSU vs. Purdue Fort Wayne

A Win on Friday Would...

Give YSU its sixth victory of the 2023 season.
Snap a two-game losing streak.
Be YSU's third straight victory over Purdue Fort Wayne.
Improve YSU's Horizon League record to 3-3.
Improve YSU's home record to 2-2.
Be the 341st in head coach Dan Bertolini's career and his 112th at Youngstown State.

Scouting The Mastodons

Purdue Fort Wayne is 6-19 overall on the season after falling 7-4 to Bowling Green at Mastodon Field on Tuesday. The Mastodons are 3-3 in Horizon League play after winning two of three games against Northern Kentucky this past weekend. PFW also dropped two of three games at Wright State in league action.
Senior Braedon Blackford is batting .287 and slugging .617 while leading the Mastodons with eight home runs and 22 RBIs. Senior infielder Cade Nelis is batting .276 and slugging .447 while leading Purdue Fort Wayne with seven doubles and 17 walks. The Mastodons rank last in the Horizon League with a .223 team batting average.
Senior left-hander Jacob Myer has an 0-2 record, a 7.52 ERA and 22 strikeouts in a team-high 26.1 innings over seven appearances and five starts. Senior right-hander JD Deany has a 2-2 record, a 7.99 ERA and a team-high 26 strikeouts in 23.2 innings over eight appearances and five starts.
Purdue Fort Wayne posted an 18-36 overall record and a 13-15 mark in Horizon League play in 2022. The Mastodons were picked sixth out of six teams in the 2023 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll.

Series History

Overall: Youngstown State leads 13-5
Home: 3-1 // Away: 9-4 // Neutral: 1-0
Bertolini: 9-3
Current Win Streak: 2 by Youngstown State
First meeting: April 17, 2004 (W 6-1)
YSU has won two straight and nine of the last 12 in the series with Purdue Fort Wayne. The Penguins won three of four meetings last season including a 6-0 victory in the first round of the 2022 Horizon League Tournament.
YSU won six of eight meetings between the teams in 2021. That season marked the first meetings between the two programs since 2005 as it was Purdue Fort Wayne's first season in the Horizon League.

Recapping Toledo

at Toledo - Tuesday, March 28 // L 2-7

Toledo scored five runs over the first two innings on its way to a 7-2 victory over the Youngstown State baseball team on Tuesday at Scott Park in Toledo, Ohio.
The Rockets plated one run in the first inning and four in the second before adding single runs in the fifth and seventh. The Penguins, who outhit the Rockets 9-5 for the game, struck for single runs in the sixth and eighth innings but left a total of 13 runners on base.
Ian Francis drove in both of YSU's runs as he went 2-for-3 with a home run, an RBI double and a walk. Matt Thompson also had a pair of hits as he went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
YSU starter Aidan English took the loss after allowing five runs on two hits and four walks in two innings of work. Cam Marshalwitz was responsible for one run on two hits over three innings of relief while Brandin Anderson, Kenny Misik, Patrick Gumto and Braden Gebhardt combined to allow just one unearned run on one hit over the final three frames.

Up Next

The Penguins will continue their seven-game homestand on Tuesday with a non-conference contest against Pitt at 5 p.m. YSU will then host Northern Kentucky for a three-game Horizon League series on April 6-8 at Eastwood Field.