The Youngstown State baseball team tied the single-game school record with six home runs in a 12-4 victory over Northern Kentucky on Saturday at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex in Highland Heights, Ky.

The Penguins scored their first eight runs in the game using the long ball. YSU hit six homers in a game for the third time in school history and for the first time since May 6, 2001 at Oakland. The Guins also hit six homers at Cleveland State on May 8, 2000. Steven D'Eusanio led the home run barrage with two while Braeden O'Shaughnessy, Padraig O'Shaughnessy, Ian Francis and RJ Sherwood each went deep once.

Youngstown State improves to 16-33 overall and 10-15 in Horizon League play while Northern Kentucky falls to 28-21 overall and 16-10 in league action.

D'Eusanio went 4-for-5 with two home runs and three RBIs to lead YSU's offensive attack. Padraig O'Shaughnessy went 3-for-5 with a home run while his brother Braeden O'Shaughnessy went 2-for-6 and drove in five runs with a two-run home run and a three-run double. Trey Law went 3-for-6 with a double and a run scored while Sherwood went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. All nine Penguins in the starting lineup recorded a hit as YSU outhit NKU 19-10 for the contest.

The offensive explosion overshadowed a terrific start by freshman left-hander Braden Gebhardt. The Howland, Ohio, native allowed three runs on five hits with three strikeouts over six innings to earn his second victory of the season. Gebhardt sat down the Norse in order in three straight innings as he retired 10 consecutive batters between the second and fifth frames. Patrick Gumto tossed two scoreless innings of relief before Casey Marshalwitz allowed one run in the ninth.

The Penguins jumped in front 1-0 in the top of the second inning when Francis hit a solo home run to left field.

The Norse answered with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the second to take a 3-1 lead. Liam McFadden-Ackman hit a leadoff single and Nick Wimmers followed with an RBI double to even the score. John Odom then hit a two-run home run to left field to put NKU in front.

YSU grabbed the lead emphatically with four runs on three home runs in the top of the fifth inning. Sherwood led off the rally with a solo blast to left center and Law followed with a double to set up a two-run homer by Braeden O'Shaughnessy. Two batters later, D'Eusanio belted a solo shot over the left field wall to give YSU a 5-3 edge.

The Penguins pushed their lead to 6-3 in the top of the seventh inning when Padraig O'Shaughnessy smashed his team-leading ninth home run of the season to right field.

Youngstown State added six insurance runs in the top of the ninth to go ahead 12-3. Padraig O'Shaughnessy hit a leadoff single and D'Eusanio followed with a two-run blast to match the single-game school record for home runs. Later in the frame, Sherwood was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Braeden O'Shaughnessy added a three-run double.

Northern Kentucky scored a single run in the bottom of the ninth inning to account for the final margin. Jayden Wakeham drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on an RBI single by Cleary Simpson.

NKU starter Ben Gerl suffered the loss after surrendering five runs on 11 hits over five innings of work.

The Penguins will go for the series win over the Norse on Sunday at noon. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.