Penguins Play First Midweek Contest of 2025 on Wednesday at Akron; First Pitch Moved Up to Noon

Wednesday, February 26

Akron, OH

Noon

Youngstown State University

Akron

Photo by: Bryson Chavez

Penguins Play First Midweek Contest of 2025 on Wednesday at Akron; First Pitch Moved Up to Noon

2/25/2025 11:00:00 AM | Baseball

The Youngstown State baseball team (1-5) will play its first midweek contest of the 2025 season on Wednesday at noon against Akron (2-4) at Skeeles Field in Akron, Ohio.

UPDATE: First pitch has been moved up by two hours from the original start time of 2 p.m.

Live audio will be available at YSNLive.com while live stats will be available through links posted on YSUsports.com and the program's social media channels. Fans can also follow @YSUBaseball on X for live updates.

Youngstown State at Akron

Opponent	Date	Location	Audio	Live Stats
	Wednesday Feb. 26 \| 12 PM	Skeeles Field Akron, Ohio	YSNLive.com	Live Stats

A Glimpse at the Guins

Junior right-hander Thomas Fowler will take the ball to make his first pitching appearance as a Penguin on Wednesday. The Cedar Park, Texas, native made 20 appearances over the last two seasons at Waubonsee Community College in Illinois.
Youngstown State is coming off its first victory of the 2025 season after earning an 8-5 triumph in the series finale at Abilene Christian on Sunday. Five Penguins recorded multiple hits as YSU outhit ACU 13-3 for its first victory under new head coach Trevor Charpie.
Sunday's victory at Abilene Christian snapped a five-game losing skid for the Penguins. YSU was swept in a three-game series at Baylor on opening weekend before dropping both games of a doubleheader at ACU on Saturday.
Freshman right-hander Tyler Heflin allowed three runs on three hits with five strikeouts over five innings in his first career start on Sunday at Abilene Christian. The West Chester, Ohio, native retired the side in order in three different frames as he blanked the Wildcats over the first five innings. Heflin retired the first seven batters he faced and 14 of the first 15.
Redshirt sophomore utility player Nathan Beckley batted .636 and slugged .909 with seven hits in 11 at bats over three games this past weekend at Abilene Christian. The Aliso Viejo, Calif., native recorded three doubles, five RBIs, 10 total bases, one run scored and a .692 on-base percentage over the three games. Beckley went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles in the series opener before going 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs in game two of Saturday's doubleheader. He also went 2-for-4 with an RBI double in YSU's 8-5 win in the series finale on Sunday. Beckley is batting .400 and slugging .550 through the first six games of the 2025 season.
Freshman catcher Caleb Hadley hit a home run on the second pitch of his first career plate appearance in YSU's 8-5 victory on Sunday at Abilene Christian. The Southington, Ohio, native made his first career start behind the plate in Sunday's series finale.
Senior outfielder and Washington transfer Kyle Fossum enjoyed an impressive opening weekend at the plate as he batted .455 and slugged 1.182 with five hits in 11 at bats over three games at Baylor. The Seattle, Wash., native went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and two runs scored in the season opener on Feb 14. He also hit a two-run homer in game one of a doubleheader on Feb. 15 before going 2-for-4 with a double in the series finale. Fossum is batting .364 and slugging .727 while leading the Penguins with eight hits, two home runs and seven RBIs through six games.
Wednesday will mark the 154th all-time meeting between YSU and Akron on the diamond. The Penguins have won two straight and three of the last four encounters after earning wins of 4-3 and 10-9 over the Zips during the 2024 season.
Youngstown State is under the direction of first-year head coach Trevor Charpie. The Anaheim Hills, Calif., native was named the 10th head coach in program history in June after serving as an assistant coach for the Penguins during the 2024 season. At 31 years old, Charpie is the third-youngest Division I head baseball coach in the country in 2025.
YSU's 2025 roster features a large group of 21 newcomers as well as 19 returners from last year's team that finished as the runner-up at the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Championship. The Penguins won four games in the Horizon League Tournament for the first time since winning the championship in 2014.

Previewing Akron

A Win on Wednesday Would…

Give YSU its second straight victory and improve the Guins to 2-5 on the season.
Give YSU its third straight victory in the series with Akron.

Scouting The Zips

Akron is 2-4 on the season after being swept in a three-game series at Jacksonville State this past weekend. The Zips won two of three games at Radford on opening weekend to begin the 2025 campaign. Akron was picked 11th in the Mid-American Conference Baseball Preseason Poll after going 15-39 overall and 10-20 in MAC play in 2024.
Redshirt freshman infielder Blake Bowen is batting .381 and is tied for the team lead with eight hits through the first six games of the season. Senior outfielder Jack Poist is batting .320 and slugging .520 with eight hits including a home run and a team-high eight RBIs. Poist was named the MAC Player of the Week after slashing .417/.750/.611 with five hits in 12 at-bats and six RBIs over three games at Radford on opening weekend.
Sophomore right-hander Elijah Griffith is projected to start on the mound for Akron on Wednesday. He allowed two runs, one of them earned, on three hits over 2.1 innings out of the bullpen on Feb. 16 in his first appearance of the season. The Zips have a team ERA of 7.52 with an opponent batting average of .258 through their first six games of the campaign.
In total, Akron returns 18 players from last season while welcoming 17 newcomers in 2025.

Series History

Overall: Akron leads 92-61
Charpie: 0-0 // H: 40-30 // A: 21-59 // N: 0-3
Current Win Streak: 2 by Youngstown State
Last Meeting: April 24, 2024 (W, 10-9)
First Meeting: May 6, 1950 (L, 5-6)
Youngstown State has won each of the last two meetings with Akron after sweeping a pair of meetings during the 2024 season. The Penguins picked up a 4-3 victory at Skeeles Field in Akron before winning another one-run decision with a 10-9 walk-off victory at Eastwood Field.
The Penguins trailed 6-0 after two innings in the most recent meeting, but they scored the next nine runs to take a 9-6 lead. Akron tied the game in the eighth, and Eli Brown's RBI single in the ninth gave YSU the season sweep of the Zips.
YSU and Akron split a pair of matchups during the 2023 season in the first meetings between the two programs since 2015. The Penguins earned an 8-5 win at Eastwood Field before Akron collected a 13-4 victory at Canal Park in Akron.
The Penguins and Zips have played 153 times in a series that dates back to 1950.

Recapping Last Week

at Abilene Christian – Saturday, Feb. 22 (Game 1) // L, 0-6

Youngstown State dropped a 6-0 decision to Abilene Christian in game one of Saturday's doubleheader at Crutcher Scott Field.
The Wildcats scored once in the second and twice in the third before adding insurance with a two-run sixth inning and a single tally in the eighth.
Beckley went 2-for-3 to lead the Penguins offensively while Eli Brown was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
YSU starter Jacob Gehring took the loss after allowing three runs on six hits with three strikeouts over five innings. Aidan English was responsible for three runs on two hits with three punch outs over three innings out of the bullpen.

at Abilene Christian – Saturday, Feb. 22 (Game 2) // L, 9-11

Abilene Christian jumped out to a 9-2 lead and held on for an 11-9 victory over Youngstown State in game two of Saturday's doubleheader at Crutcher Scott Field.
The Penguins jumped in front 2-0 in the top of the first before the Wildcats scored the next nine runs of the contest. YSU struck for multiple runs in three straight frames from the fifth to the seventh while ACU posted single tallies in the fifth and sixth. The Guins chopped a seven-run deficit down to two as they outhit the Wildcats 11-7.
Beckley went 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs while Jack Johnson and Tommy Rover added two hits apiece. Rover and Fossum each drove in a pair of runs while Garrett Cutting doubled and scored three times.
YSU starter JJ Tylicki was the losing pitcher after allowing seven runs on two hits and six walks and striking out five batters. Brandon Mikos surrendered four runs on five hits with six strikeouts over 3.1 innings of relief in his season debut.

at Abilene Christian – Sunday, Feb. 23 // W, 8-5

Youngstown State secured its first win under head coach Trevor Charpie with an 8-5 victory over Abilene Christian in the series finale on Sunday at Crutcher Scott Field in Abilene, Texas.
The Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Wildcats tied the contest with a three-run sixth. YSU scored in each of its final four at bats while holding ACU to two runs in the eighth to earn its first victory of the 2025 season.
Five Penguins recorded multiple hits as the visitors finished with a season-high 13 hits as a team. On the mound, Tyler Heflin, Harun Pelja and Sloan Ulrich combined to limit the Wildcats to just three hits in the game.
Heflin allowed three runs on three hits with five strikeouts over five innings in his first career start. The freshman right-hander retired the side in order in three different frames as he blanked the Wildcats over the first five innings. The West Chester, Ohio, native retired the first seven batters he faced and 14 of the first 15.
Pelja surrendered two runs, one of them earned, without allowing a hit over 2.1 innings of relief to earn the victory. Ulrich retired all five batters he faced and retired the side in order in the ninth to collect the save.
Garrett Cutting, Cole Smith, Kyle Fossum and Nathan Beckley each had two hits as the top four hitters in YSU's lineup. Brayden Kuriger delivered a triple and an RBI single while freshman Caleb Hadley homered in first-career plate appearance.

Up Next

Youngstown State will continue its early-season road stretch this weekend with a four-game series at UTSA. The Penguins and Roadrunners will open the series on Friday at 7 p.m. ET on Friday before playing a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and a single game on Sunday at noon.