The Youngstown State baseball team built an 8-2 lead and held on for an 8-7 victory over Wright State in front of more than 4,000 area students on Friday at Eastwood Field.
The Penguins evened their three-game Horizon League series with the Raiders with more than 4,000 area students in attendance for the program's annual Akron Children's Hospital of Mahoning Valley School Day Game.
Youngstown State improves to 18-35 overall and 12-16 in Horizon League play while Wright State drops to 35-19 overall and 22-7 in league action.
The Penguins led 8-2 after six innings before the Raiders struck for three runs in the seventh to pull within 8-5. Wright State scored twice with nobody out in the ninth before Casey Marshalwitz recorded three straight outs including a game-ending strikeout to earn his fifth save of the season.
YSU starter Braden Gebhardt allowed two runs on three hits while matching his career high with six strikeouts over six innings to earn his third victory of the season. The Howland, Ohio, native retired the final eight batters he faced as he retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings. Patrick Gumto was responsible for three runs, two of them earned, on three hits over two innings of relief. Marshalwitz gave up two runs on one hit in the ninth.
RJ Sherwood went 3-for-4 with two solo home runs while Matt Thompson was a home run shy of the cycle. Thompson went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBIs while Braeden O'Shaughnessy went 2-for-5 with a double and a two-run home run. Padraig O'Shaughnessy went 2-for-4 with a run scored while Andre Good drove in a pair of runs. Youngstown State outhit Wright State 12-7 for the contest.
The Penguins took an early lead with three runs on two hits and an error in the bottom of the second inning. Grau reached on an error and Thompson followed with an RBI triple to right center. After Thompson scored on an RBI groundout by Good, Sherwood blasted his seventh home run of the season to left center to give YSU a 3-0 edge.
The Raiders responded by scoring two runs on a pair of hits in the top of the fourth to cut YSU's lead to 3-2. Boston Smith started the inning with a bunt single and Luke Arnold walked to set up an RBI single by Carson Clark. Drew Baker then brought home Arnold with a sacrifice fly for the second run of the frame.
YSU added a single run on two hits in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead 4-2. Grau hit a leadoff single, advanced to third on a single by Thompson and scored when Good reached on a fielder's choice.
Youngstown State pushed its lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth when Trey Law was hit by a pitch and Braeden O'Shaughnessy followed with a two-run bomb to left center field. The lead swelled to 7-2 when Padraig O'Shaughnessy singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI double by Thompson.
Sherwood crushed his second home run of the game to left center in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the Penguins ahead 8-2.
Wright State plated three runs on three hits and an error in the top of the seventh to pull within 8-5. Andrew Patrick hit a leadoff triple and Jay Luikart followed with a two-run home run. Gehrig Anglin reached on a throwing error and came around to score on an RBI double by Patrick Fultz.
The Raiders made things interesting with a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning. Luikart was hit by a pitch and Anglin followed with a two-run home run over the left field wall. Marshalwitz proceeded to induce two straight fly outs and got Boston Smith to strike out swinging to preserve YSU's 11th win in its last 14 games.
Wright State starter Jake Shirk suffered the loss after surrendering four runs, two of them earned, on five hits with four strikeouts over four innings of work.
The Penguins and Raiders will conclude their three-game Horizon League series on Saturday at 1 p.m. It will be Senior Day at Eastwood Field as YSU's senior class will be honored during a special ceremony beginning at 12:40 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on YSNLive.com.
