Dayton, Ohio — Casey Marshalwitz, Braden Gebhardt and Chris Domke combined to hold Milwaukee to three hits, and the Youngstown State baseball team beat Milwaukee 3-2 on Friday afternoon in the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Championship.
The Penguins won their second straight elimination game in the tournament, and they will try to extend their season again Friday evening against Wright State, the tournament's host and the top seed in the field.
Friday evening's game against Wright State will begin at 7 p.m., and it will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and YSNLive.com.
The winner between the Penguins and Raiders will advance to the championship round through the elimination bracket and will play at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Nischwitz Field.
Marshalwitz, a fifth-year senior who has 88 relief appearances in his career, made his first-ever collegiate start and set the tone by holding the Panthers to one earned run on two hits in four innings. It was the longest outing of his Penguins career.
Braden Gebhardt, who started on the mound for YSU on Thursday, pitched 3.2 shutout innings out of the bullpen and allowed one hit and two walks. He earned the victory, and Chris Domke came on to record the final four outs, two of which were by strikeout, to earn his fifth save.
Offensively, Teddy Ruffner and RJ Sherwood had two hits apiece in the low-scoring affair against the Panthers. Youngstown State finished with six hits, which was double what its opponent had.
The Penguins got an extra out in the second inning that led to a pair of runs as they went ahead 2-0. With Ruffner on second with two outs in the inning, Chase Franken reached on a swing-and-miss third strike that went to the backstop. Sherwood was then hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Ruffner raced home on a wild pitch. Milwaukee starter Owen Rice then issued back-to-back walks to Trey Law and Brett Stanley to force in the second run.
A double play helped Marshalwitz protect the two-run cushion in the bottom of the second, but Milwaukee tied the score in the third with a pair of two-out runs. The Panthers loaded the bases with nobody out in the inning, and Marshalwitz got two big outs with a strikeout of leadoff batter Gabe Roessler and inducing Justin Hausser into an RBI ground out. The tying run came across on a passed ball, and it was registered as an unearned run.
The only other run in the contest came in the top of the sixth, and it gave the Penguins the win. Ruffner hit a one-out double to left, and Franken drew a two-out walk to put two runners on. Sherwood then hit an RBI single to left center that scored Ruffner, who hustled to the plate before Franken was thrown out at third.
The Panthers stranded a pair of runners in the seventh as Gebhardt got an inning-ending pop out, and Domke came on to record the final out in the eighth after Milwaukee got runners at the corners. The freshman closer then retired the Panthers in order in the ninth.
