Youngstown State (1-6) will continue its early-season road stretch on Friday when it begins a four-game series against UTSA (7-3) at Roadrunner Field in San Antonio, Texas. The Penguins and Roadrunners will open the series on Friday at 7 p.m. ET before playing a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. ET and a single game on Sunday at noon ET.

Friday's series opener and Sunday's series finale will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Live stats throughout the series will be available through links on YSUsports.com. Fans can also follow @YSUBaseball on X for live updates.

Youngstown State at UTSA

Opponent	Date	Location	Video	Live Stats
	Friday Feb. 28 | 7 PM ET	Roadrunner Field San Antonio, Texas	ESPN+	Live Stats
	Saturday March 1 | 1 PM ET	Roadrunner Field San Antonio, Texas	None	Live Stats
	Saturday March 1 | 5 PM ET	Roadrunner Field San Antonio, Texas	None	Live Stats
	Sunday March 2 | 12 PM ET	Roadrunner Field San Antonio, Texas	ESPN+	Live Stats

A Glimpse at the Guins

• Junior right-hander Jacob Gehring will take the ball in the season opener on Friday while senior right-hander JJ Tylicki is slated to start game one for the Guins on Saturday. Junior right-hander Brandon Mikos is slated to start game two on Saturday while freshman right-hander Tyler Heflin will take the hill in the series finale on Sunday.
• Youngstown State is coming off an 11-2 setback at Akron on Wednesday in its first midweek contest of the 2025 season. Junior outfielder and Nicholls transfer Brayden Kuriger hit his first-career home run while senior outfielder and Washington transfer Kyle Fossum went 3-for-5 with three singles. Friday's series opener at UTSA will mark the first-ever meeting on the diamond between the Penguins and Roadrunners.
• YSU earned its first victory of the 2025 season after an 8-5 triumph in the series finale at Abilene Christian on Feb 23. Five Penguins recorded multiple hits as YSU outhit ACU 13-3 for its first victory under new head coach Trevor Charpie.
• 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.
• 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 at Abilene Christian on Feb 23. The Southington, Ohio, native made his first career start behind the plate in Sunday's series finale.
• Fossum leads the Penguins in batting average (.407), slugging percentage (.704), hits (11), home runs (2), RBIs (7) and total bases (19) through the first seven games of the 2025 season. The Seattle, Wash., native has hit safely in three straight games and in six of the first seven contests. Redshirt sophomore utility player Nathan Beckley is batting .364 and slugging .500 with eight hits including three doubles and seven RBIs through the first seven games of the 2025 season.
• YSU 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 for the Penguins during the 2024 season. At 31 years old, Charpie is the third-youngest Division I head 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 UTSA

A Win on Friday Would…

• Improve YSU's record to 2-6 on the season.
• Give the Penguins two wins in their last three games.
• Be the second victory in head coach Trevor Charpie's career.

Scouting The Roadrunners

• UTSA is 7-3 overall and has won six straight games after a 13-3 victory in seven innings over Oakland in San Antonio on Wednesday. The Roadrunners also defeated Houston Christian 12-1 in seven innings on Tuesday after sweeping Long Island in a four-game weekend series.
• UTSA was picked fourth in the 2025 American Athletic Conference Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll after going 32-24 overall and 17-10 in AAC play in 2024 in its debut campaign in the league.
• Senior outfielder Mason Lytle was named the American Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year and named to the preseason all-conference team. Lytle batted .346 with a team-leading 43 RBIs on his way to being named First-Team All-AAC last season.
• Lytle is batting .488 and slugging .651 with four doubles, one home run and 14 RBIs through the first 10 games of the 2025 season. The Roadrunners boast a team batting average of .358 heading into Friday's series opener.
• Junior right-hander Zach Royse, who will start for UTSA on Friday, owns a 3.86 ERA and a .182 opponent batting average while leading his team with 12 strikeouts and 11.2 innings pitched over two starts. Senior left-hander Conor Myles, who is slated to start Sunday's series finale, has not allowed a run while striking out 10 batters in 10.1 innings pitched over two starts.

Series History

• Friday's series opener will mark the first-ever meeting on the diamond between Youngstown State and UTSA.

Recapping Akron

• Brayden Kuriger hit his first career home run as Youngstown State dropped an 11-2 decision to Akron on Wednesday afternoon at Skeeles Field in Akron, Ohio.
• The Penguins plated a single run in the top of the first before the Zips scored in four of their first five at bats on the way to earning the midweek non-conference victory.
• Kuriger, the junior transfer outfielder from Nicholls, hit the first home run of his collegiate career while driving in both of YSU's runs in the contest. Kyle Fossum went 3-for-5 with three singles as the Penguins were outhit by the Zips 6-5.
• YSU starter Thomas Fowler suffered the loss after allowing two runs on one hit and two walks in one inning of work in his debut as a Penguin. Nate Ross tossed 2.1 scoreless innings of relief with a pair of strikeouts as one of five relievers to appear for Youngstown State. Gavin Wilms struck out the side in the eighth in his first appearance of the season.

Up Next

The Penguins will travel to Boiling Springs, N.C., for a three-game series at Gardner-Webb on March 7-9. The Penguins and Bulldogs will open the series on Friday, March 7 at 4 p.m.