Friday, April 4
Rochester, MI
11 a.m.
Youngstown State University
at
Oakland
Photo by: Bryson Chavez
Penguins Visit Golden Grizzlies for Three-Game HL Series
4/3/2025 2:30:00 PM | Baseball
The Youngstown State baseball team (5-22, 2-7 HL) will begin a three-game Horizon League series at Oakland (7-23, 2-7 HL) on Friday with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. The Penguins and Golden Grizzlies will close the series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
All three games will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and 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 Oakland
| Opponent | Date | Location | Video | Audio | Live Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Friday April 4 | 11 AM ET |
Oakland Baseball Field Rochester, Mich. |
ESPN+ | YSNLive.com | Live Stats |
|
Friday April 4 | 3 PM ET |
Oakland Baseball Field Rochester, Mich. |
ESPN+ | YSNLive.com | Live Stats |
|
Sunday April 6 | 1 PM ET |
Oakland Baseball Field Rochester, Mich. |
ESPN+ | YSNLive.com | Live Stats |
A Glimpse at the Guins
- Senior right-hander Jacob Gehring will take the mound in the series opener while redshirt senior right-hander JJ Tylicki will start game two of Friday's doubleheader. Redshirt junior right-hander Brandon Mikos is scheduled to start for the Penguins in the series finale on Sunday.
- Youngstown State is coming off a 13-3 non-conference victory over Toledo on Tuesday at Eastwood Field that snapped a five-game losing skid. The Penguins pounded out 13 hits while limiting to Toledo to just four in a seven-inning decision. Five different Penguins recorded multiple hits while four different players drove in multiple runs.
- Through games played on Tuesday, April 1, senior outfielder and Washington transfer Kyle Fossum leads the Horizon League in batting average (.452), slugging percentage (.885), on-base percentage (.547), OPS (1.432), hits (47), doubles (12) and home runs (11). The Seattle, Wash., native also ranks second in the league with 32 RBIs, third with 30 runs scored and fifth with 19 walks. At the outset of the week, Fossum also owned national rankings of fifth in batting average, fifth in slugging percentage, seventh in on-base percentage, 14th in hits per game, 14th in total bases, 20th in hits and 22nd in doubles.
- Fossum is slashing .579/.660/1.105 with 22 hits including eight doubles and four home runs with 11 RBIs over nine games in Horizon League play. He was named the Horizon League Batter of the Week on March 25. Fossum has hit safely in 12 straight games while reaching base safely in 19 consecutive contests. He leads the Penguins with 15 multi-hit games and 10 multiple RBI performances.
- Redshirt senior infielder Tommy Rover has hit safely in six straight games to improve his batting average to .306 through the first seven-plus weeks of the 2025 season. The Brentwood, Calif., native is batting .324 and slugging .676 with three home runs and 11 RBIs over nine games in Horizon League play. Rover has also reached base safely in 15 consecutive contests.
- Redshirt sophomore outfielder/first baseman Brady Shannon has now hit multiple home runs in a game twice through the first seven 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 .284 and slugging .593 with 12 RBIs while having hit safely in each of his last seven games and reached base safely in 15 consecutive contests. Shannon ranks second in the Horizon League with two triples, sixth with a .588 slugging percentage, seventh with six home runs, eighth with a .969 OPS and eighth with a team-high eight stolen bases.
- Senior right-hander Jacob Gehring ranks second in the Horizon League with a team-high 38 innings pitched. The Canfield, Ohio, native also ranks fourth in the league with 31 strikeouts. Gehring struck out a career-high nine batters over six innings in a no-decision against Purdue Fort Wayne on March 21.
- Redshirt senior right-hander JJ Tylicki ranks second in the Horizon League with a team-high 36 strikeouts. The Shawnee, Kan., native recorded a season-high nine strikeouts in the second game of a doubleheader against Milwaukee on March 14.
- Senior infielder Cole Smith ranks fourth in the Horizon League with a team-high 20 walks while ranking third with 10 doubles. Junior infielder Garrett Cutting ranks eighth with 17 walks and ninth with 23 runs scored. Cutting has also reached base safely in 10 straight games.
- Freshman infielder Jay Wrona has hit safely in five straight games while reaching base safely in 12 consecutive contests. Wrona is batting .350 and slugging .475 over 15 games played and 11 starts.
- 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.
Previewing Oakland
A Win in Game One on Friday Would...
- Improve YSU to 6-22 overall and 3-7 in HL play.
- Give the Guins their second straight victory.
- Give the Penguins their second road win of the season.
- Give YSU its second straight win in the series with Oakland.
Scouting The Golden Grizzlies
- Oakland is 7-23 overall and 2-7 in Horizon League play heading into the weekend. The Golden Grizzlies have lost three straight decisions after being swept in a three-game Horizon League series at Purdue Fort Wayne last weekend.
- Oakland was picked third in the 2025 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll after going 31-27 overall and 18-12 in Horizon League play last season. The Golden Grizzlies are under the direction of Interim Head Coach Brian Nelson.
- Sophomore outfielder Taylor Tomlin is batting .408 and slugging .507 while senior catcher Matthew McGann is batting .333 and slugging .531 with team highs of four home runs and 24 RBIs. Senior outfielder John Lauinger is batting .318 with a team-high 35 hits.
- Freshman left-hander Grant Garman owns a 2-1 record and a 5.35 ERA while leading the Golden Grizzlies with 33 strikeouts and 37 innings pitched over seven starts. Senior right-hander Hunter Pidek has a 7.29 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 33.1 innings pitched over seven starts.
Series History
- Overall: Tied 30-30
- Charpie: 0-0 // H: 21-15 // A: 7-12 // N: 2-3
- Current Win Streak: 1 by Youngstown State
- Last Meeting: May 22, 2024 (W, 13-10)
- First Meeting: May 8, 1999 (W, 12-5)
- YSU went 4-3 against Oakland during the 2024 season. Each team won two of three games during a pair of series at Eastwood Field last season before YSU earned a 13-10 victory in the opening round of the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Championship at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio. The Penguins have won three of the last four encounters overall.
- The Penguins and Golden Grizzlies met each year from 1999-2001 when both teams were members of the Mid-Continent Conference. The series resumed in 2014 when Oakland joined the Horizon League.
Recapping Last Game
vs. Toledo – Tuesday, April 1 // W 13-3 (7 innings)
- Youngstown State pounded out 13 hits while limiting Toledo to just four in a 13-3 seven-inning non-conference victory on Tuesday at Eastwood Field.
- The Rockets struck first with a single tally in the top of the first before the Penguins scored the next seven runs of the game. YSU added six runs in the bottom of the fifth on its way to securing the seven-inning victory.
- Tommy Rover, Brady Shannon, Garrett Cutting, Jay Wrona and Caleb Hadley had two hits apiece while Kyle Fossum hit his league-leading 11th home run of the season. Fossum and Wrona each drove in three runs while Cutting and Hadley each recorded two RBIs.
- YSU starter Brandon Mikos allowed one run on two hits in his lone inning of work. Harun Pelja was awarded the victory after allowing one run and striking out three batters over 3.1 innings of relief. Lane Rhodes tossed two thirds of inning while Brandin Anderson pitched a scoreless sixth. One unearned run went on Thomas Fowler's record while Olindo Pezzone recorded the final two outs in his first-career appearance.
Up Next
The Penguins will begin a five-game homestand at Eastwood Field on Tuesday with a non-conference contest against Pitt at 5 p.m. YSU will also host Bowling Green on Wednesday at 5 p.m. before welcoming Northern Kentucky for a three-game Horizon League series beginning on Friday, April 11 at 6 p.m.
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/ BaseballTuesday, February 11
Tuesday, February 11
