Penguins Begin Three-Game Horizon League Series at Wright State on Friday

Friday, April 14

Dayton, OH

3 p.m.

Youngstown State University

Wright State

Photo by: Dave Dermer

Penguins Begin Three-Game Horizon League Series at Wright State on Friday

4/13/2023 2:23:00 PM | Baseball

Game Notes

Youngstown State at Wright State

Date	Location	Video	Live Stats
Friday April 14 \| 3 PM ET	Nischwitz Stadium Dayton, Ohio	ESPN+	Live Stats
Saturday April 15 \| 2 PM ET	Nischwitz Stadium Dayton, Ohio	None	Live Stats
Sunday April 16 \| 1 PM ET	Nischwitz Stadium Dayton, Ohio	ESPN+	Live Stats

Weekend Preview

The Youngstown State baseball team (7-25, 3-8 Horizon League) will begin a seven-game road swing when it opens a three-game Horizon League series against Wright State (17-16, 7-5 Horizon League) on Friday at 3 p.m. ET at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio. The Penguins and Raiders will proceed to play on Saturday at 2 p.m. before concluding the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Friday's series opener and Sunday's series finale will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Live stats will be available for all three games through links on YSUsports.com. Fans can also follow @YSUBaseball on Twitter for live updates.
Freshman left-hander Braden Gebhardt is slated to start the series opener on Friday, freshman right-hander Aidan English will take the ball in game two on Saturday and Sunday's starter is to be announced.
YSU split a pair of non-conference contests earlier this week, winning 9-4 at Pitt on Monday and falling 18-9 to Toledo on Tuesday at Eastwood Field. Monday's victory at Pitt was YSU's third straight win at Charles L. Cost Field and its fifth victory over the Panthers in the last eight meetings. The Penguins now have a win over the Panthers in each of the last four seasons that the teams have played.
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 five wins over Power Five opponents in the last two seasons and nine during Dan Bertolini's tenure as head coach.
In YSU's 15-14 win over Purdue Fort Wayne on April 1, Steven D'Eusanio went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and tied the single-game school record with three doubles. He became just the second Penguin since 2010 to double three times in a game. The Willoughby, Ohio, native is the first Penguin to double three times in a game since Blaze Glenn on March 21, 2021.
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.
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.
Youngstown State ranks second in the Horizon League with 294 hits while ranking third with a .267 batting average and 68 doubles. Senior right-hander Travis Perry leads the Horizon League with a .231 opponent batting average while ranking third with 42.1 innings pitched, fifth with 41 strikeouts and seventh with three wins and a 4.46 ERA. Freshman left-hander Braden Gebhardt ranks seventh in the league with a .264 opponent batting average.
Senior infielder Steven D'Eusanio leads the Horizon League and ranks third nationally with 16 doubles while ranking seventh in the league with 38 hits and 10th with 23 RBIs. D'Eusanio has hit safely in 16 of his last 18 games after putting together a 12-game hitting streak from March 11 to April 2. He has also reached base safely in 18 consecutive contests. D'Eusanio is batting .326 and slugging .435 over 11 games in Horizon League play.
Junior infielder Trey Law leads the Horizon League and ranks 27th nationally with 52 hits while ranking second with a .374 batting average, fourth with 11 doubles, eighth with a .446 on-base percentage and ninth with 25 runs scored. Law has now hit safely in 26 of his last 29 games. He hit safely in a career-best nine straight games from Feb. 19 to March 5 before putting together an eight-game hitting streak from March 10-24. Law has hit safely in six straight games entering Friday's series opener. He is batting .377 and slugging .434 over 11 games in Horizon League play.
Senior Padraig O'Shaughnessy ranks fifth in the league with 30 RBIs and 23 walks while ranking seventh with five home runs. Senior infielder Braeden O'Shaughnessy ranks ninth in the league with 36 hits while freshman infielder Matt Thompson ranks 10th with a .310 batting average. Braeden O'Shaughnessy is batting .370 and slugging .587 over 11 games in Horizon League play. Thompson has hit safely in five straight games entering Friday's series opener.
Senior outfielder Turner Grau leads the league with four triples while ranking fourth with 12 stolen bases, sixth with 21 walks and 10th with 23 runs scored. Grau has set a new YSU career record for triples with 12. With four triples this season, he has surpassed the previous record of nine that had been held by Chris Durkin (1989-91) and Mark Thomas (1997-99).
Freshman right-hander Brandin Anderson leads the Horizon League and ranks 12th nationally with 18 pitching appearances.

YSU at Wright State

A Win on Friday Would...

Give YSU its eighth victory of the 2023 season.
Be YSU's second win in its last three games.
Snap a five-game losing streak to Wright State.
Improve YSU's Horizon League record to 4-8.
Be the 343rd in head coach Dan Bertolini's career and his 114th at Youngstown State.

Scouting The Raiders

Wright State is 17-16 overall and 7-5 in Horizon League play after earning an 18-4 win at Toledo on Wednesday. The win over the Rockets snapped a four-game losing streak for the Raiders. Wright State was swept in a three-game series at Milwaukee last weekend in its most recent Horizon League action.
Sophomore Andrew Patrick is batting .344 and slugging .664 while leading the Raiders with 42 hits, 12 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 25 RBIs. Junior outfielder Jay Luikart is batting .304 and slugging .473 with 39 hits, five home runs and 17 RBIs. Wright State ranks second in the Horizon League with a .275 team batting average.
Sophomore left-hander Sebastian Gongora has a 4-1 record, a league-leading 2.43 ERA and a team-high 37 strikeouts in 40.2 innings pitched over eight starts. Junior right-hander Jake Shirk has a 2-4 record, a 5.98 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 40.2 innings pitched over eight starts.
Wright State posted a 30-27 overall record and an 20-9 mark in Horizon League play in 2022. The Raiders were picked first in the 2023 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll after winning the 2022 regular season and tournament titles.

Series History

Overall: Wright State leads 89-39
Home: 17-41 // Away: 19-47 // Neutral: 3-1
Bertolini: 6-24
Current Win Streak: 5 by Wright State
Last meeting: May 8, 2022
First meeting: May 19, 1977
The Raiders won all five meetings between the teams last season. Wright State swept a three-game series in Dayton before taking both games of a doubleheader at Eastwood Field.
Youngstown State and Wright State met every season from 2002 to 2019 before the conference slate was wiped out in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recapping Pitt and Toledo

at Pitt - Monday, April 10 // W 9-4

Youngstown State posted 15 hits while limiting Pitt to just four in a 9-4 victory on Monday evening at Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh, Pa. After falling behind 2-0 after the first inning, the Penguins answered with four runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the seventh to take a 9-2 lead. The Panthers plated a pair of runs in the home half of the seventh to account for the final margin.
The Penguins picked up their third straight win at Pitt and their fifth win over the Panthers in the last eight meetings. YSU now has a win over Pitt in each of the last four seasons that the teams have played. The Guins earned their third win over a Power Five opponent this season and their fifth in the last two campaigns.
Padraig O'Shaughnessy went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run and two runs scored to lead the Penguins offensively. Matt Thompson went 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored while Trey Law was 2-for-5 with a double and a career-high four RBIs. Freshman Clay Wiesen hit the first home run of his career, drove in two runs and scored three times. All nine Penguins who appeared at the plate recorded at least one hit in the contest.
YSU starter Braden Gebhardt allowed two runs on two hits with three strikeouts over three innings of work. Patrick Gumto earned the victory after permitting just two hits and striking out three batters over a season-high three innings of scoreless relief. Gumto retired the first six batters he faced after coming out of the bullpen. Chase Franken was responsible for two runs on four walks in two thirds of an inning. He induced a key double play with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to help get out of a jam.
Casey Marshalwitz came on to strikeout a career-high six batters over a career-high 2.1 scoreless innings of relief to seal the victory. The Gibsonia, Pa., native would proceed to retire the side in order in the eighth and ninth innings while striking out the final five hitters he faced.

vs. Toledo - Tuesday, April 11 // L 9-18

Toledo hit seven home runs that accounted for 14 runs to beat Youngstown State 18-9 on Tuesday evening at Eastwood Field. The Rockets hit three of those dingers during a nine-run fifth inning after YSU had taken a 6-3 lead.
Trey Law went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs at the top of the Penguins' lineup, and Steven D'Eusanio also had a pair of hits and drove in two runs. Joe Suarez had a hit and walked three times.
Brandin Anderson allowed three runs in three innings in the starting role for the Penguins. Six of the runs came against Nick Perez in 1.2 innings, and Kenny Misik surrendered the other three runs in the nine-run fifth. Zach Stayduhar allowed four runs in 2.2 innings, and Will Shaffer allowed two runs in 1.2 innings. Perez was charged the loss to drop to 0-4 on the season.

Up Next

The Penguins will continue their seven-game road stretch on Tuesday with a non-conference contest at Penn State at 6 p.m. YSU will then play a three-game Horizon League series at Oakland on April 21-23.