Penguins Open Horizon League Series at Milwaukee on Thursday

The Youngstown State baseball team (8-27, 5-10 HL) will open a three-game Horizon League series with Milwaukee (12-22, 9-5 HL) at Franklin Field in Franklin, Wis., on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET. The Penguins and Panthers will proceed to play on Friday at 2 p.m. and on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The first two games of the series will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live audio will be available for all three games at YSNLive.com while live stats will be available through links on YSUsports.com. Fans can also follow @YSUBaseball on X for live updates.

Youngstown State at Milwaukee

Date	Location	Video	Audio	Live Stats
Thursday April 17 \| 4 PM ET	Franklin Field Franklin, Wis.	ESPN+	YSNLive.com	Live Stats
Friday April 18 \| 2 PM ET	Franklin Field Franklin, Wis.	ESPN+	YSNLive.com	Live Stats
Saturday April 19 \| 1 PM ET	Franklin Field Franklin, Wis.	None	YSNLive.com	Live Stats

A Glimpse at the Guins

Senior right-hander Jacob Gehring will take the mound in the series opener on Thursday while redshirt senior right-hander JJ Tylicki will start game two of the series on Friday. Redshirt junior right-hander Brandon Mikos is scheduled to start for the Penguins in the series finale on Saturday.
The Penguins are coming off a 5-1 non-conference setback at Mercyhurst on Tuesday. YSU earned an 18-8 victory over Northern Kentucky in the Horizon League series finale on Sunday at Eastwood Field. YSU scored a season-high 18 runs on 17 hits in route to an eight-inning win.
Redshirt sophomore utility player Nathan Beckley went 3-for-5 with a career-high six RBIs on Sunday to become the first Penguin in more than two years to drive in six runs in a game. The Aliso Viejo, Calif., native is the first Penguin to have at least six RBIs since Braeden O'Shaughnessy drove in six runs against Oakland on March 16, 2023. Beckley has now hit safely in six straight games to improve his batting average to .321 over 32 games played and 31 starts.
Through games played on April 15, senior outfielder and Washington transfer Kyle Fossum leads the Horizon League in batting average (.414), slugging percentage (.865), OPS (1.386), hits (55), doubles (15) and home runs (15). The Seattle, Wash., native also ranks second in the league with a .521 on-base percentage, 38 RBIs and 38 runs scored and fifth with 27 walks. Fossum also owns national rankings of fourth in slugging percentage, fifth in total bases (115), seventh in home runs, ninth in home runs per game (0.43), 21st in batting average, 22nd in OBP, 26th in doubles and 37th in hits. The senior is slashing .492/.597/1.066 with 11 doubles, eight home runs and 17 RBIs over 15 games in Horizon League play. He was named the Horizon League Batter of the Week on March 25.
Fossum has become just the second player in program history to hit at least 15 home runs in a season, joining Andrew Kendrick, who set the single-season school record with 17 homers in 2017. He has hit safely in in 16 of his last 20 games while reaching base safely in 25 of his last 27 consecutive contests. Fossum leads the Penguins with 19 multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI performances.
Redshirt senior infielder Tommy Rover has hit safely 12 of his last 14 games to improve his batting average to .318 over 25 games played. The Brentwood, Calif., native is batting .346 and slugging .712 with five home runs and 16 RBIs over 15 games in Horizon League action. Rover ranks fourth the Horizon League with a .492 OBP, sixth with a 1.026 OPS and 10th with a .534 slugging percentage.
Redshirt sophomore outfielder/first baseman Brady Shannon has now hit multiple home runs in a game twice through the first nine weeks of the 2025 season. The Youngstown, Ohio, native and dual-sport athlete at YSU went yard twice in the second game of a doubleheader at UTSA on March 1 for his first two home runs in a Penguin uniform. Shannon is also a quarterback on the YSU football team.
Shannon also hit a pair of solo home runs in YSU's 10-7 victory over Milwaukee on March 15. He is batting .277 and slugging .500 with 15 RBIs over 31 games played and 28 starts. Shannon ranks second in the Horizon League with two triples, 10th with six home runs and 10th with a team-high nine stolen bases.
Senior right-hander Jacob Gehring ranks second in the Horizon League with 45 strikeouts and 50 innings pitched. Gehring struck out a career-high nine batters over six innings against Purdue Fort Wayne on March 21. He allowed three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts while matching his season high with seven innings pitched to earn his first win of the season in YSU's 4-3 victory in the series opener at Oakland on April 4.
Redshirt senior right-hander JJ Tylicki ranks fourth in the Horizon League with a 43 strikeouts. The Shawnee, Kan., native picked up his first win of the season in YSU's 7-4 victory in game two of a doubleheader at Oakland on April 4. Tylicki fanned a career-high nine batters over five innings against Milwaukee on March 14.
Freshman infielder Jay Wrona has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games while reaching base safely in 20 consecutive contests. Wrona is batting .328 and slugging .418 over 23 games played and 19 starts. The New Castle, Pa., native delivered the go-ahead RBI single in YSU's 4-3 win at Oakland on April 4.
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 in 2024. At 31, Charpie is the third-youngest Division I head baseball coach in the country in 2025.

Previewing Milwaukee

A Win on Thursday Would…

Improve YSU to 9-27 overall and 6-10 in Horizon League play.
Give YSU two wins in its last three games.
Give YSU its second straight win in the series with Milwaukee.

Scouting The Panthers

Milwaukee is 12-22 overall and 9-5 in Horizon League play following a 7-4 home non-conference victory over UIC on Tuesday. The Panthers won two of three home games against Oakland last weekend in their most recent Horizon League action.
Milwaukee was picked fourth in the 2025 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll after going 19-36 overall and 13-17 in Horizon League play last season. The Panthers have 19 returning letterwinners and 19 newcomers in 2025.
Senior infielder Tyler Bickers is batting .344 and slugging .420 while leading the Panthers with 45 hits. Junior outfielder Charlie Marion is batting .283 and slugging .592 while leading MKE with 11 doubles, eight home runs and 35 RBIs.
Junior right-hander Gavin Theis boasts a 6-1 record and a 3.51 ERA while leading the Panthers with 43 strikeouts and 51.1 innings pitched over nine starts. Junior right-hander Aric Ehmke, who will start on Friday, owns a 1-4 record and an 8.29 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 33.2 innings pitched over nine appearances and five starts.

Series History

Overall: Milwaukee leads 76-50
Charpie: 1-2 // H: 29-34 // A: 14-30 // N: 7-12
Current Win Streak: 1 by Youngstown State
Last Meeting: March 15, 2025 (W, 10-7)
First Meeting: May 20, 1977 (L, 3-4)
Milwaukee won two of three games at Eastwood Field in mid-March in the first series between the two teams earlier this season. The Panthers earned wins of 7-4 and 15-7 in a doubleheader on March 14 before the Penguins salvaged the series finale with a 10-7 victory on March 15.
YSU went 3-4 against Milwaukee during the 2024 season. The Penguins won a 3-2 decision in the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Championship at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio.

Recapping Last Game

at Mercyhurst – Tuesday, April 15 // L, 1-5

Youngstown State came up short in 5-1 non-conference loss at Mercyhurst on Tuesday afternoon at the Mercyhurst Baseball Field in Erie, Pa.
On a chilly and blustery day in Erie, the Lakers broke a scoreless tie with a single run in the bottom of the fifth inning before adding four runs of insurance in the home half of the eighth. The Penguins posted a single tally in the top of the ninth for the final margin.
Nathan Beckley went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored while Jay Wrona recorded an RBI double for YSU offensively.
YSU starter Tyler Heflin scattered three hits over three scoreless innings before handing the ball to Harun Pelja, who surrendered one run on three hits over two innings. Gavin Wilms tossed two innings of scoreless relief while Lane Rhodes and Phil Brennaman were each responsible for runs during Mercyhurst's four-run rally in the eighth.

Up Next

The Penguins will continue their nine-game road stretch on Tuesday with a non-conference contest at Eastern Michigan at 3 p.m. YSU will also play a non-league tilt at Kent State on Wednesday, April 23, at 6 p.m.