Penguins Return Home to Open Horizon League Play Against Purdue Fort Wayne

Friday, March 15

Niles, Ohio

5 p.m.

Youngstown State University

Purdue Fort Wayne

Photo by: Dave Dermer

Penguins Return Home to Open Horizon League Play Against Purdue Fort Wayne

3/14/2024 12:21:00 PM | Baseball

Game Notes

The Youngstown State baseball team (1-15) will play its 2024 home and Horizon League opener against Purdue Fort Wayne (6-12) 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 closing the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Live audio will be available for all three games of the series on 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 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne

Date	Location	Audio	Live Stats
Friday March 15 \| 5 PM ET	Eastwood Field Niles, Ohio	YSNLive.com	Live Stats
Saturday March 16 \| 3 PM ET	Eastwood Field Niles, Ohio	YSNLive.com	Live Stats
Sunday March 17 \| 1 PM ET	Eastwood Field Niles, Ohio	YSNLive.com	Live Stats

Weekend Preview

Junior right-hander Jacob Gehring will take the mound in the series opener on Friday while sophomore left-hander Sloan Ulrich is scheduled to start on Saturday. YSU's starter for Sunday's series finale is to be determined.
Youngstown State earned its first victory of the 2024 season on Wednesday with a 7-6 triumph in 10 innings at Pitt. The Penguins picked up their fourth straight win over the Panthers in Pittsburgh and their sixth win in the last nine meetings overall. YSU also earned its sixth win over a Power Five opponent in the last three seasons and its 10th such victory during Dan Bertolini's tenure as head coach.
The Penguins are looking to win their Horizon League opener for the fourth consecutive season. YSU has won three straight Horizon League openers for the first time in program history. The Guins will also be going for their fourth straight win over the Mastodons after sweeping a three-game series in Fort Wayne in the most recent meetings during the 2023 season.
Redshirt senior shortstop Trey Law is batting .356 with a team-high 21 hits while freshman outfielder Derrick Tarpley Jr. is batting .328 and slugging .517 with 19 hits including two home runs and 11 RBIs. Law went 4-for-5 with four runs scored in YSU's win at Pitt on Wednesday while Tarpley Jr. was 3-for-6 with an RBI single.
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.

Promotions & Fan Information

Eastwood Field
2024 YSU Baseball Promotional Schedule
Tickets for all three games of the series will be $5, and the gate will open approximately one hour prior to first pitch.
Friday's home opener will feature a YSU Schedule Magnet Giveaway courtesy of Mercy Health as well as $2 Hot Dog Wally hot dogs and $1 pop at the concession stand.
Saturday's contest will feature a YSU Team Poster Giveaway and $4 16 oz. beer at the concession stand.
Fans at Sunday's series finale will receive a coupon for a free chili dog from the Hot Dog Shoppe and Jib Jab Hot Dog if YSU scores five runs or more.

Previewing Purdue Fort Wayne

A Win on Friday Would...

Give YSU two straight victories.
Give the Penguins their fourth straight victory over Purdue Fort Wayne.
Allow the Penguins to win their fourth straight Horizon League opener.
Allow YSU to win its home opener for the second straight season and for the third time in the last four campaigns.
Be the 356th in head coach Dan Bertolini's career and his 127th at Youngstown State.

Scouting The Mastodons

Purdue Fort Wayne enters this weekend's series at 6-12 overall after losing each of its last three games. The Mastodons dropped two of three games at Missouri last weekend before falling 19-7 at Ball State on Tuesday. PFW earned a 9-6 win at No. 20 Indiana on Feb. 27.
Freshman Justin Osterhouse, who is the reigning Horizon League Batter of the Week, is batting .349 and slugging .746 with seven home runs and 21 RBIs. Senior Grant Thoroman is batting .348 and slugging .561 with a team-high 23 hits.
Senior right-hander and reigning HL Pitcher of the Week Kevin Fee owns a 2-0 record and a 3.63 ERA with two saves in 17.1 innings over a team-high 10 appearances out of the bullpen. Senior right-hander Mac Ayres leads the Mastodons with 13 strikeouts and 19.1 innings pitched over six appearances and four starts.
Purdue Fort Wayne was picked sixth in the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll after posting a 13-43 overall record and an 8-22 mark in Horizon League play in 2023.

Series History

Overall: Youngstown State leads 17-7
Bertolini: 13-5 // H: 4-3 // A: 12-4 // N: 1-0
Current Win Streak: 3 by Youngstown State
Last Meeting: May 7, 2023 (W, 14-10)
First Meeting: April 17, 2004 (W, 6-1)
The Penguins swept a three-game series in Fort Wayne last May in the most recent meetings between the two programs.
Purdue Fort Wayne won two of three games at Eastwood Field in the first series between the teams during the 2023 season.
Of the 24 all-time meetings, 18 have come since Purdue Fort Wayne joined the Horizon League prior to the 2021 season.

Recapping Kent State, Pitt

at Kent State – Tuesday, March 12 // L 0-27

Kent State scored multiple runs in five different innings in route to a 27-0 win over the Youngstown State baseball team on Tuesday afternoon at Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium in Kent, Ohio.
The Golden Flashes led 3-0 after two innings before striking for five runs in the third and four in the fourth. Kent State added six runs in the fifth and nine in the sixth on its way to the seven-inning midweek victory.
Trey Law, Eli Brown, Brett Stanley and Joe Suarez each singled for the Penguins offensively.
YSU starter Aidan English suffered the loss after allowing five runs, four of them earned, on four hits in two innings on the mound. Nolan Kubilus was responsible for three runs on two hits and three walks in two thirds of an inning while Gavin Wilms permitted four runs on four hits in one inning of work. Cam Marshalwitz surrendered six runs on eight hits in 1.1 innings out of the bullpen. Mitchell Seymour tossed two thirds of an inning in his first-career appearance.

at Pitt – Wednesday, March 13 // W 7-6 (10 innings)

The Youngstown State baseball team survived a late push from Pitt to prevail for a 7-6 victory in 10 innings on Wednesday afternoon at Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The Penguins plated three runs in the first inning before the Panthers responded with two runs in the home half of the second. YSU scored twice in the fourth and once in the sixth before Pitt added a single run in the seventh. The Panthers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth to erase a 6-3 deficit and force extra innings.
Trey Law hit a two-out double in the top of the 10th and scored when Derrick Tarpley Jr. reached on a misplayed fly ball to right field to give YSU a 7-6 advantage. Freshman right-hander Chris Domke worked around a one-out single in the bottom of the 10th to secure YSU's first victory of the 2024 season.
The Penguins have now won six of the last nine meetings with the Panthers overall. YSU picked up its fourth straight win over Pitt at Charles L. Cost Field and its seventh win over an ACC opponent during Dan Bertolini's tenure as head coach. Youngstown State now has a win over Pitt in each of the last five seasons that the two programs have faced off. The Guins have also collected six wins over Power Five opponents over the last three seasons.
Law went 4-for-5 with a double and four runs scored while Tarpley Jr. was 3-for-6 with an RBI single. RJ Sherwood went 2-for-5 with a double and a two-run single as the Penguins outhit the Panthers 13-11 for the contest.
YSU starter Colin Casteel allowed two runs on five hits with a career-high three strikeouts over 4.1 innings. Niall Todd recorded the final two outs of the fifth inning before Nick Perez permitted one run on three hits over three strong innings of relief. Casey Marshalwitz earned the win after allowing three runs in one inning while Domke picked up his first career save.

Up Next

The Penguins will continue a four-game homestand with a midweek non-conference contest against Bowling Green on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on YSNLive.com.