Niles, Ohio — On a beautiful March day in Northeast Ohio for an opener at Eastwood Field, Youngstown State's baseball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader with Milwaukee on Friday as it opened the Horizon League and home portions of its 2025 schedule. The Penguins lost the opener 7-4, and they fell 15-7 in game two.
Senior transfer Kyle Fossum was 7-for-9 with three doubles and a home run over the two games, and newcomers Brayden Kuriger and Tommy Rover each homered for the Penguins in game two. Cole Smith had three hits in the nightcap.
In game one, Milwaukee broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run single with two outs in the seventh inning and went on to win 7-4.
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead after just three pitches in the bottom of the first inning. Garrett Cutting doubled inside the third-base bag on a 1-0 pitch, and Nathan Beckley served the first pitch of his at bat into centerfield for an RBI single.
YSU starter Jacob Gehring worked around a leadoff double in the second, but the Panthers were able to take the lead with three runs on five hits in the third. Tate Schmidt tied the score with a one-out double to left-center, and Tyler Bickers followed with a two-run single to right to make the score 3-1.
The Penguins cut their two-run deficit in half in the bottom of the inning as Cutting hit a one-out triple off the wall in center, and he scored two batters later on Kyle Fossum's single to left. Fossum then tied the game with another RBI single in the fifth that brought in Beckley. Beckley was hit by a pitch with one out and advanced to second on a passed ball, and Fossum delivered the tying run with his single to left.
Gehring retired the Panthers in order in the sixth, and he got the first two in the seventh before the game tilted in Milwaukee's favor with three straight hits. Schmidt and Bickers started the rally with back-to-back singles, and cleanup batter Charlie Manuel brought in both runners with a double to right. The Panthers added another run on a two-out RBI single in the eighth to extend their lead to 6-3.
Two hit batters and two walks allowed the Penguins to get a run across in the bottom of the eighth, but they hit into a double play and left the bases loaded to hurt their chances of a big inning. Milwaukee immediately got its three-run cushion back with a solo blast in the ninth.
Gehring was charged with five runs on 10 hits in his seven innings of work, and Braden Gebhardt allowed two runs in his two innings of relief.
Milwaukee starter Gavin Theis allowed two earned runs on six hits in six innings to collect his second win of the season, and Logan Snow got the final four outs to record his first save.
In game two, Milwaukee scored seven of its eight runs in the sixth inning on two swings, and that big inning propelled the Panthers to their 15-7 victory.
Milwaukee scored an unearned run and left the bases loaded in the top of the first off of starter JJ Tylicki, but the first-year Penguin settled in and struck out nine batters in five innings of work.
Youngstown State tied the score on Brayden Kuriger's leadoff homer in the second, and Tommy Rover's home run with Fossum aboard in the third gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead.
Milwaukee got within 3-2 with a two-out RBI single in the fourth, but YSU answered with three runs in the bottom half to go up 5-2. Cole Smith led off with a ground-rule double, and Brady Shannon followed with a triple to left center. Shannon then scored on a sacrifice fly by Caleb Hadley to give the Penguins a three-run lead.
Tylicki allowed a leadoff single in the sixth to his final batter of the night, and the Panthers did most of their damage against the bullpen. Two singles and a walk brought in Milwaukee's first run of the inning, and Gabe Roessler gave the Panthers a 7-5 lead with a grand slam to left off of Brandon Mikos. Q Phillips later hit a three-run homer with two outs off of Sloan Ulrich to up the margin to 10-5.
Smith led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and scored on another sacrifice fly by Hadley to allow the Penguins to get within 10-6.
Milwaukee added three insurance runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth, and Fossum's homer for the Penguins came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Tylicki finished with a career-high nine strikeouts in his five innings of work for the Penguins, and he did not factor in the decision. The loss was charged to Mikos, and YSU used six relievers in the game.
Logan Schulfer got the win for Milwaukee despite surrendering five runs on eight hits, and Aric Ehmke and Aiden Fishnick allowed two runs over four innings of relief.
The Penguins and Panthers will conclude their series on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Eastwood Field.
