Penguins to Close Out Road Stretch at Kent State, Pitt

Tuesday, March 12

Kent, OH

3 p.m.

Youngstown State University

Kent State

Photo by: Dave Dermer

Penguins to Close Out Road Stretch at Kent State, Pitt

3/11/2024 2:26:00 PM | Baseball

Game Notes

The Youngstown State baseball team (0-14) will conclude its early-season road stretch this week with back-to-back midweek non-conference games at Kent State (7-8) at Pitt (8-4). The Penguins will face the Golden Flashes on Tuesday at 3 p.m. before traveling to face the Panthers on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Tuesday's game will be streamed live on KentStateSports.com while Wednesday's contest will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra and YSNLive.com. Live stats for both games will be available through links on YSUsports.com and fans can also follow @YSUBaseball on X for live updates.

Youngstown State at Kent State, Pitt

Opponent	Date	Location	Video	Audio	Live Stats
	Tuesday March 12 \| 3 PM	Schoonover Stadium Kent, Ohio	BoxCast	None	Live Stats
	Wednesday March 13 \| 3 PM	Charles L. Cost Field Pittsburgh, Pa.	ACC Network Extra	YSNLive.com	Live Stats

Weekly Preview

Sophomore right-hander Aidan English will take the ball at Kent State on Tuesday while freshman right-hander Colin Casteel is slated to start on Wednesday at Pitt. Each will be making their first start of the 2024 season.
Youngstown State will face Kent State for just the second time since the 2019 season. The Penguins will play Pitt for the third consecutive season. YSU has won five of the last eight meetings with Pitt overall, and the Guins have won each of the last three meetings at Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins are looking for their first win of 2024 after being swept in a four-game series at Georgia Tech this past weekend. Freshman outfielder Derrick Tarpley Jr. is batting .320 and slugging .540 while leading the team with 16 hits, five doubles and two home runs. The Brownsville, Pa., native slashed .500/1.000/.591 with nine hits including two home runs and six RBIs in 18 bats over four games this past week. He also recorded three doubles, six runs scored, three walks and 18 total bases during last week's action. Tarpley Jr. has hit safely in eight straight games heading into the week.
Redshirt senior shortstop Trey Law is batting .308 with 16 hits, seven RBIs and five stolen bases. Junior catcher Ian Francis is batting .295 and slugging .455 while leading YSU with nine walks and 11 RBIs. Freshman outfielder Alejandro Covas is batting .283 with 13 hits and a team-high six stolen bases in seven attempts.
Redshirt senior shortstop Trey Law and sophomore infielder Matt Thompson were each named to Perfect Game's Horizon League Preseason All-Conference Team in the website's 2024 conference preview.
Six different Penguins were listed among Perfect Game's Top MLB Draft Prospects in the Horizon League. Gehring was ranked the league's No. 9 prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft. He was joined on the website's top-25 prospects for 2024 by Law (No. 21), senior outfielder RJ Sherwood (No. 23) and junior catcher Ian Francis (No. 25). Thompson was listed as Perfect Game's top 2025 prospect while freshman outfielder Derrick Tarpley Jr. was ranked as the league's No. 2 prospect for 2026.
Freshman outfielder Derrick Tarpley Jr. was selected as the Preseason Horizon League Freshman of the Year by D1Baseball.com in the website's 2024 conference preview. The Brownsville, Pa., native was drafted by the Oakland Athletics with the 526th overall pick in the 18th round of the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft.
Youngstown State was picked fifth in the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll after a vote of the league's head coaches. The Penguins were picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League by D1Baseball.com.

Previewing Kent State, Pitt

A Win on Tuesday Would...

Give YSU its first victory of the 2024 season.
Give the Penguins their second win over Kent State in the last three meetings.
Be the 355th in head coach Dan Bertolini's career and his 126th at Youngstown State.

A Win on Wednesday Would...

Give the Penguins their sixth win over a Power Five opponent in the last three seasons.
Give YSU its 10th victory over a Power Five opponent and seventh win over an ACC opponent during Dan Bertolini's tenure as head coach.
Give the Guins six wins in the last nine meetings with Pitt and four straight wins over the Panthers at Charles L. Cost Field.
Give YSU a win over Pitt in each of the last five seasons that the two programs have faced off.

Series History (Kent State)

Overall: Kent State leads 62-22-1
Bertolini: 2-6 // H: 14-26-1 // A: 8-35 // N: 0-0
Current Win Streak: 1 by Kent State
Last Meeting: March 7, 2023 (L, 1-22)
First Meeting: May 1, 1979 (W, 1-0)
Kent State earned a 22-1 victory at Schoonover Stadium last March in the first meeting between the programs since 2019.
The Penguins and Golden Flashes split a pair of meetings in 2019 with both teams winning on their home field.

Series History (Pitt)

Overall: Pitt leads 38-12-1
Bertolini: 5-5 // H: 5-14 // A: 7-24-1 // N: 0-0
Current Win Streak: 1 by Youngstown State
Last Meeting: April 10, 2023 (W, 9-4)
First Meeting: April 30, 1986 (L, 2-14)
The Penguins and Panthers split a pair of games during the 2023 season. Pitt earned a 13-7 win at Eastwood Field on April 4 before YSU won 9-4 in Pittsburgh on April 10.
YSU has won five of the last eight meetings overall, and the Guins have won each of the last three meetings at Charles L. Cost Field.
The Guins have a win over Pitt in each of the last four seasons the programs have faced off.

Recapping Georgia Tech

Game 1 at Georgia Tech – Friday, March 8 // L 5-15

Georgia Tech rallied late from a three-run deficit to come back and defeat the Youngstown State 15-5 in the series opener on Friday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.
The Penguins scored twice in the top of the second to take an early 2-0 lead before the Yellow Jackets cut the deficit in half with a single run in the bottom of the third. YSU added single tallies in the fourth and fifth to build a 4-1 advantage.
Georgia Tech plated three runs in the home half of the sixth to even the score at 4-4. After the Guins regained the lead with one run in the seventh, the Yellow Jackets answered with five runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 9-5 edge. Georgia Tech added six runs in the eighth to produce the final margin.
YSU starter Jacob Gehring allowed four runs on six hits with five strikeouts over 5.1 innings in a no-decision. The junior right-hander retired the side in order in the first and fourth frames while blanking the Yellow Jackets in four different innings. Brandin Anderson was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs in the seventh.

Game 2 at Georgia Tech – Saturday, March 9 // L 6-16

Georgia Tech used a nine-run fifth inning to pull away for a 16-6 victory over the Youngstown State in game one of Saturday's doubleheader in Atlanta, Ga.
RJ Sherwood hit a three-run home run while Derrick Tarpley Jr. hit a solo blast for the Penguins. Carter Kocik delivered a two-run double while Trey Law and Thompson recorded two hits apiece.
YSU starter Sloan Ulrich suffered the loss after allowing 10 runs on 10 hits over four innings on the mound.

Game 3 at Georgia Tech – Saturday, March 9 // L 7-17

Georgia Tech scored the first 13 runs of the contest on its way to a 17-7 victory over the Youngstown State in game two of Saturday's doubleheader.
The Yellow Jackets built a 13-0 lead before the Penguins scored seven straight runs in the sixth and seventh. Georgia Tech answered with four runs in the seventh to enact the seven-inning 10-run rule and secure the doubleheader sweep.
The Penguins pounded out 11 hits as seven different players recorded at least one hit. Derrick Tarpley Jr., Matt Thompson, RJ Sherwood and Eli Brown each notched two hits while Joe Suarez delivered an RBI single. Brown finished the game 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
YSU starter Braden Gebhardt took the loss after allowing seven runs, five of them earned, on eight hits with two strikeouts over three innings.

Game 4 at Georgia Tech – Sunday, March 10 // L 2-18

Eli Brown hit his first-career home run as Youngstown State dropped a 18-2 decision to Georgia Tech in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets scored the first nine runs of the contest before Brown sent a two-run blast over the right field wall in the top of the fourth inning. Georgia Tech went on to add three runs in the fifth and six in the sixth on its way to completing the four-game series sweep in seven innings.
Brown finished 2-for-3 with a two-run home run and a stolen base while Teddy Ruffner was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Derrick Tarpley Jr. and Brett Stanley also added singles for the Penguins.
YSU starter Lane Rhodes suffered the loss after allowing nine runs on eight hits with a pair of strikeouts over two innings.

Up Next

Youngstown State will host Purdue Fort Wayne in its 2024 home and Horizon League opener at Eastwood Field on Friday at 5 p.m. to begin a three-game series. The Penguins and Mastodons will proceed to play on Saturday at 3 p.m. before concluding the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.