Penguins Travel to Toledo on Tuesday for Midweek Matchup

The Youngstown State baseball team (3-19, 2-4 Horizon League) will play a midweek non-conference road contest against Toledo (10-13, 6-3 MAC) at Scott Park on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Live audio will be available at YSNLive.com while live stats will be available through links on YSUsports.com. Fans can also follow @YSUBaseball on X for live updates.

Youngstown State at Toledo

Opponent	Date	Location	Audio	Live Stats
	Tuesday March 26 \| 2 PM ET	Scott Park Toledo, Ohio	YSNLive.com	Live Stats

Game Preview

Redshirt freshman right-hander Mitchell Seymour will take the ball to make his first-career start on Tuesday. The New Springfield, Ohio, native made his first-career appearance out of the bullpen at Kent State on March 12.
Youngstown State and Toledo will face off for the second straight season after a three-year hiatus in the series, which dates back to the 1993 campaign. The Penguins had won two straight meetings in the series before the Rockets swept a pair of meetings last season. Toledo won a 7-2 decision at Scott Park before earning an 18-9 victory at Eastwood Field in 2023.
Youngstown State dropped two of three games to Oakland in a Horizon League series at Eastwood Field this past weekend. The Penguins won the series opener 3-2 on Friday before falling in both games of a doubleheader on Sunday. The Golden Grizzlies took game one 14-1 before earning a 13-3 victory in game two.
Junior right-hander Jacob Gehring tossed seven strong innings to earn the win in YSU's 3-2 victory over Oakland on Friday. The Canfield, Ohio, native allowed just two runs on five hits while striking out five batters in his second victory in as many starts. Gehring posted career highs with eight innings pitched and six strikeouts in a 4-2 win over Purdue Fort Wayne on March 15.
Youngstown State earned its first victory of the 2024 season on March 13 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.
Redshirt senior shortstop Trey Law is batting .317 while leading the Penguins with 26 hits, 16 runs scored and a .404 on-base percentage. The Camp Hill, Pa., native matched his career high with four hits in YSU's win at Pitt on March 13 by going 4-for-5 with four runs scored.
Freshman outfielder Derrick Tarpley Jr. is batting .328 and slugging .517 with 19 hits including two home runs and 11 RBIs over 16 games played. The Brownsville, Pa., native went 3-for-6 with an RBI single in YSU's win at Pitt on March 13. Tarpley Jr. has missed the last six games due to injury.
Freshman outfielder Alejandro Covas is batting .303 while leading YSU and ranking sixth in the Horizon League with eight stolen bases. The Peninsula, Ohio, native set a new career high with three hits in the series finale with Purdue Fort Wayne on March 17. Covas went 3-for-4 and tied the single-game school record with two triples to become the 11th player in program history and the first since 2021 to triple twice in a game.

Previewing Toledo

A Win on Tuesday Would...

Give YSU its fourth victory of the 2024 season.
Snap a two-game losing streak.
Snap a two-game losing streak vs. Toledo.
Be the 358th in head coach Dan Bertolini's career and his 129th at Youngstown State.

Scouting The Rockets

Toledo owns a 10-13 overall record and a 6-3 mark in Mid-American Conference play after winning two of three games against Ball State at Scott Park this past weekend.
Junior outfielder Garret Pike is batting .319 with a team-high 29 hits, three home runs and 16 RBIs. Senior first baseman Owen Jackson is batting .311 while leading the Rockets with seven home runs and 17 RBIs.
Senior right-hander Kyle Pijaszek will make his first start of the season for Toledo on Tuesday. He owns a 2-1 record, one save and a 5.02 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 14.1 innings over 10 appearances out of the bullpen.
Junior right-hander Brennan McCune has a 4.08 ERA and one save in 17.2 innings pitched over a team-high 11 appearances out of the bullpen. Freshman left-hander Jacob Tabor owns a 2-0 record and a 3.68 ERA with a team-high four saves and 16 strikeouts in 14.2 innings over nine relief appearances.
Toledo was picked sixth out of 11 teams in the 2024 MAC Baseball Head Coaches Preseason Poll after posting a 26-29 overall record and an 14-16 mark in MAC play in 2023.

Series History

Overall: Youngstown State leads 18-11
Bertolini: 2-2 // H: 9-7 // A: 8-3 // N: 1-1
Current Win Streak: 2 by Toledo
Last Meeting: April 11, 2023 (L, 9-18)
First Meeting: May 11, 1993 (W, 7-4)
Toledo swept a pair of meetings with YSU during the 2023 season after the Penguins had won the previous two matchups. The Rockets earned a 7-2 win at Scott Park on March 28 last season before picking up an 18-9 victory at Eastwood Field on April 11.
Prior to last season's meetings, YSU earned a 5-3 victory at Eastwood Field on April 10, 2019. YSU had won two straight in the series after also winning 17-16 at Scott Park on May 8, 2018.

Recapping Oakland

vs. Oakland – Friday, March 22 // W 3-2

Youngstown State recorded 12 hits to back strong pitching performances in route to a 3-2 victory over Oakland in the Horizon League series opener on Friday afternoon at Eastwood Field.
On a chilly Friday afternoon at Eastwood Field, the Penguins scored single runs in the first and fifth innings to take 2-0 lead before the Golden Grizzlies evened the score with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth. Ian Francis hit a one-out single in the top of the eighth and Matt Thompson followed with an RBI double to right center to give YSU the decisive 3-2 advantage.
Jacob Gehring allowed just two runs on five hits while fanning five batters over seven strong innings to earn his second victory in as many starts. The junior right-hander from Canfield, Ohio, blanked the Golden Grizzlies in six of the seven frames he was on the mound.
Freshman left-hander Niall Todd recorded the first two outs in the bottom of the eighth before handing the ball to freshman right-hander Chris Domke. The North Royalton, Ohio, native got an inning-ending strikeout in the eighth inning before retiring the side in order in the ninth to collect his second save of the season.
Francis went 3-for-4 with an RBI double and a run scored while Alejandro Covas and Aiden Dunlap added two hits apiece. Eight different YSU players recorded a hit as the Penguins outhit the Golden Grizzlies 12-5.

vs. Oakland – Sunday, March 24 (Game 1) // L 1-14 (7 innings)

Oakland scored 14 consecutive runs after falling behind 1-0 on its way to 14-1 victory over Youngstown State in game one of Sunday's doubleheader at Eastwood Field.
The Penguins scored a single run in the top of the first inning before the Golden Grizzlies struck for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth. Oakland added one run in the fifth and six in the sixth in route to the seven-inning victory.
Francis went 2-for-4 with an RBI single while Brett Stanley singled and scored a run.
YSU starter Sloan Ulrich suffered the loss after allowing seven runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits with three strikeouts and four walks over 3.2 innings. Freshman right-hander Mikey Rodriques, who was one of four relievers to appear for the Penguins, made his first-career pitching appearance.

vs. Oakland – Sunday, March 24 (Game 2) // L 3-13 (7 innings)

Oakland built an 8-1 lead and was able to hold off Youngstown State for a 13-3 victory in game two of Sunday's doubleheader at Eastwood Field.
The Penguins jumped ahead 1-0 for the second straight game before the Golden Grizzlies scored the next eight runs of the contest to build an 8-1 advantage. YSU scored twice in the fifth before Oakland scored four times in the sixth and once in the seventh for the seven-inning win.
Trey Law went 2-for-4 and scored twice from the leadoff spot for the Penguins while Stanley and Matt Thompson added two hits apiece. Alejandro Covas also notched an RBI single for Youngstown State.
YSU starter Brandon Mikos was tagged with the loss after surrendering two runs on two hits with a pair of punch outs in his lone inning on the mound. The junior right-hander made his first appearance in over a year after suffering a season-ending injury in the early portion of the 2023 season.

Up Next

Youngstown State will return to Horizon League play on Thursday at 5 p.m. when it begins a three-game series with Northern Kentucky at Eastwood Field. The Penguins and Norse will proceed to play on Friday at 3 p.m. before closing the series on Saturday at 1 p.m.