Penguins Go For Third Straight HL Series Victory at NKU

Friday, May 3

Highland Heights, KY

1:15 p.m.

Youngstown State University

Northern Kentucky

Photo by: Bryson Chavez

Penguins Go For Third Straight HL Series Victory at NKU

5/2/2024 9:28:00 AM | Baseball

Game Notes

The Youngstown State baseball team (10-33, 7-14 HL) will begin a three-game Horizon League series against Northern Kentucky (25-19, 13-8 HL) on Friday at 2 p.m. at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex in Highland Heights, Ky. The Penguins and Norse will proceed to play on Saturday at 1 p.m. before closing the series on Sunday at noon.

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

Youngstown State at Northern Kentucky

Date	Location	Live Stats
Friday May 3 \| 2 PM ET	Bill Aker Baseball Complex Highland Heights, Ky.	Live Stats
Saturday May 4 \| 1 PM ET	Bill Aker Baseball Complex Highland Heights, Ky.	Live Stats
Sunday May 5 \| 12 PM ET	Bill Aker Baseball Complex Highland Heights, Ky.	Live Stats

Weekend Preview

Junior right-hander Jacob Gehring will take the ball in the series opener on Friday while junior right-hander Brandon Mikos is scheduled to start on Saturday. Sophomore left-hander Sloan Ulrich is slated to start the series finale on Sunday.
YSU has earned two straight Horizon League series victories after taking two of three games against Oakland at Eastwood Field this past weekend. The Penguins won the series opener 10-4 before picking up a series-clinching 7-6 victory on Saturday. YSU has won five of its last eight games entering Friday's series opener.
Junior right-hander Jacob Gehring was named the Horizon League's Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday after tossing his first-career complete game in YSU's 10-4 series-opening win over Oakland on Friday. The Canfield, Ohio, native scattered eight hits and struck out five batters while earning his third win of the season and recording the first complete game by a Penguin in nearly two years. Gehring ranks tied for fifth in the Horizon League with 55.1 innings pitched while freshman right-hander Chris Domke is tied for second in the league with four saves.
Junior outfielder Eli Brown batted .476 and slugged .810 with 10 hits including two walk-offs and 10 RBIs over five games played this past week while helping lead the Penguins to a 3-2 record. He went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and the walk-off single in YSU's 10-9 victory over Akron on Wednesday. Brown went 2-for-5 with the walk-off two-run home run in YSU's 7-6 series-clinching victory over Oakland on Saturday. He also went 3-for-3 with a double, a triple and two RBIs in YSU's 10-4 series-opening win over Oakland on Friday. Brown's walk-off home run on Saturday marked the first walk-off blast by a Penguin since Kyle Benyo hit one against Bowling Green on April 19, 2017.
Redshirt senior shortstop Trey Law is batting .356 while leading the Penguins with 62 hits, nine doubles, 34 runs scored, 19 walks and a .423 on-base percentage. The Camp Hill, Pa., native ranks fifth in the Horizon League with 62 hits and seventh with a .356 batting average. Law leads the Penguins with 19 multi-hit games, and he has reached base safely in 13 consecutive contests. Law is batting .330 and slugging .455 with a team-high 29 hits over 21 games in Horizon League action.
Freshman outfielder Alejandro Covas is batting .327 and slugging .503 while leading the Horizon League and ranking second nationally with eight triples. The Peninsula, Ohio, native set a new single-season school record with his eighth triple of the season in YSU's 10-4 win over Oakland on Friday. He surpassed the previous record of seven that had been achieved three times previously. Covas has reached base safely in 28 consecutive games entering Friday's series opener. Covas is batting .329 and slugging .573 with five triples, three home runs and 14 RBIs over 21 games in Horizon League play. He tied the single-game school record with two triples against Purdue Fort Wayne on March 17.
Junior infielder Brett Stanley leads the Horizon League with seven sacrifice bunts while ranking tied for seventh with a team-high 12 stolen bases. Stanley is batting .319 and slugging .486 with a team-high 21 RBIs over 19 games played in Horizon League action.
Fifth-year senior right-hander Casey Marshalwitz leads YSU with 19 pitching appearances, all of which have come out of the bullpen. The Gibsonia, Pa., native currently ranks fourth in program history with 82 career appearances.
The Penguins have been without Preseason Horizon League Freshman of the Year Derrick Tarpley Jr., who has missed the last 27 games due to injury. The freshman outfielder, who was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 2024 MLB Draft, is batting .328 and slugging .517 with five doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs over 16 games played.

Previewing Northern Kentucky

A Win on Friday Would...

Give YSU its fourth win in five games.
Improve YSU's Horizon League record to 8-14.
Snap a three-game losing streak to NKU.
Be the 365th in head coach Dan Bertolini's career and his 136th at Youngstown State.

Scouting The Norse

Northern Kentucky is 25-19 overall and 13-8 in Horizon League play after an 11-7 non-conference loss at Louisville on Tuesday. The Norse dropped two of three games at Milwaukee this past weekend in their most-recent league series. NKU is one game back of Wright State in second place in the Horizon League standings.
Senior infielder Liam McFadden-Ackman is batting .401 and slugging .808 while leading the Horizon League with 17 home runs and 69 RBIs. Senior outfielder Treyvin Moss is batting .376 and slugging .608 while leading NKU with 18 doubles and 21 stolen bases.
Senior right-hander Clay Brock owns a 5-3 record and an 8.00 ERA while leading NKU with 53 strikeouts in 54 innings pitched over 13 appearances and 11 starts. Senior left-hander Ben Gerl has a 3-4 record and a 7.32 ERA with 50 strikeouts over a team-high 55.1 innings pitched.
NKU ranks second in the Horizon League with a .317 team batting average while leading the league with 423 runs scored. The Norse also rank second in the league with 102 stolen bases.

Series History

Overall: Northern Kentucky leads 29-13
Bertolini: 12-24 // H: 4-17 // A: 8-12 // N: 1-0
Current Win Streak: 3 by Northern Kentucky
Last Meeting: March 29, 2024 (L, 4-8)
First Meeting: May 20, 1977 (L, 3-4)
Northern Kentucky swept a three-game series at Eastwood Field earlier this season in late March. The Norse won the series opener 4-2 before sweeping a doubleheader with wins of 8-7 and 8-4 the following day.
Youngstown State won two of three games at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex in Highland Heights last May.
All but one of the 42 all-time meetings between YSU and NKU have come since 2016 when the Norse joined the Horizon League.

Recapping Oakland

vs. Oakland – Friday, April 26 // W 10-4

Alejandro Covas broke Youngstown State's record for triples in a season, and Jacob Gehring earned a complete game victory as the Penguins beat Oakland 10-4 on Friday evening at Eastwood Field
Covas hit his eighth triple in the fourth inning to put YSU ahead 6-3, and the Penguins outscored the Golden Grizzlies 7-1 after the top of the third. The freshman from Peninsula, Ohio, also hit his third homer of the campaign, and Teddy Ruffner also hit a home run for Youngstown State.
On the mound, Gehring pitched his first career complete game and the first by a Penguins pitcher in nearly two years. The junior from Canfield, Ohio, threw 108 pitches while scattering eight hits and walking one. He struck out five batters, and Oakland's four runs came on three home runs.
The Penguins outhit the Golden Grizzlies 15-8, and Eli Brown posted a game-best three hits. Covas, Ian Francis, Matt Thompson and Ruffner had two hits apiece, and all nine Penguins had at least one hit.

vs. Oakland – Saturday, April 27 // W 7-6

Eli Brown hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Youngstown State a 7-6 series-clinching victory over Oakland on Saturday at Eastwood Field.
On a day where YSU's 2004 and 2014 Horizon League Championships teams were honored prior to first pitch, the Penguins provided a memorable moment in front of their former champions. Brown's walk-off blast is the first by a Penguin since Kyle Benyo hit a walk-off against Bowling Green on April 19, 2017.
The Penguins fell behind 6-2 before Trey Law's three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth brought them back within a run. After a weather delay of one hour and 14 minutes, Chris Domke retired the Golden Grizzlies in order in the top of the ninth to set the stage for Brown's ninth-inning heroics.
Ian Francis reached with a one-out single before Oakland reliever Brandon Decker induced a popout for the second out of the inning. With YSU down to its final strike, Brown blasted a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left center field to give the Penguins their third straight victory.
Brown continued his scorching week at the plate as went 2-for-5 and delivered his second walk-off hit of the week at Eastwood Field. Law went 3-for-5 with a triple and his first home run of the season. Francis, Teddy Ruffner and Jack Johnson added two hits apiece as the Penguins outhit the Golden Grizzlies 13-6.

vs. Oakland – Sunday, April 28 // L 2-11

Oakland starting pitcher Brandon Decker allowed two hits over seven innings, and the Golden Grizzlies avoided a series sweep with an 11-2 victory over Youngstown State on Sunday at Eastwood Field.
Decker, who gave up a walk-off home run to Eli Brown on Saturday, allowed a two-out single in the first before retiring the next 15 batters he faced. He allowed the first two Penguins to reach in the bottom of the eighth before heading to the dugout, and Brett Stanley's two-run single in the eighth came off reliever Brody Krzysiak for the Penguins' only runs of the day. Those runs were charged against Decker, who finished with nine strikeouts in his seven innings of work.
YSU starter Sloan Ulrich was charged with the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits in five innings. Mitchell Seymour, Casey Marshalwitz and Nolan Kubilus were each scored upon out of the bullpen, and Gavin Wilms pitched a scoreless ninth.

Up Next

Youngstown State will return home to host Pitt in a non-conference contest on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The Penguins will visit Ohio State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. for their final non-conference matchup of the 2024 season.