Niles, Ohio -- The Youngstown State baseball team fell 23-1 to Pitt on Tuesday at Eastwood Field.

Penguins pitchers struck out nine Panthers hitters, but they also issued 17 walks as Pitt won to split the season series. Pitt's scoring came on 15 hits.

Brett Stanley led the Penguins at the plate going 2-for-2 with a walk, and Teddy Ruffner homered. Youngstown State beat the Panthers 7-6 in 10 innings in Pittsburgh on March 13.

Pitt batted around in the first and third innings as it built a sizeable lead early. C.J. Funk hit a three-run homer for the Panthers in the first inning as they took a 6-0 lead.

The Penguins had three straight one-out singles in the bottom of the first but were turned away scoreless, and their lone run came in the second when Ruffner hit a leadoff home run to left. For Ruffner, it was his fifth home run of the season, which is one shy of the team lead.

Pitt then pulled away in the third inning by scoring seven runs on three hits. The Panthers added a run on a two-out infield single in the fifth, and Anthony LaSala hit a pinch-hit grand slam in Pitt's six-run sixth. The final three runs came on consecutive one-out singles and a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Jake Kendro had a game-high three hits for Pitt, and Sebastian Pisacreta scored four times.

Panthers starter Aidan Coleman was awarded the victory as he went the first four innings and allowed a run on four hits. Ben Kovel, Kyle Demi and Kayden Faulcon each pitched one shutout inning out of the bullpen.

YSU starter Nolan Kubilus allowed three earned runs and three unearned runs in 0.2 innings in the loss.

Youngstown State will try to bounce back on Wednesday with a game at Ohio State at 6 p.m.