The Youngstown State baseball team (0-7) will continue its early-season road stretch on Friday when it begins a four-game series against Longwood (7-1) at Buddy Bolding Stadium in Farmville, Va. The Penguins and Lancers will open the series on Friday at 3 p.m. before playing a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon and a single game on Sunday 1 p.m.

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 Longwood

Opponent	Date	Location	Live Stats
	Friday Feb. 27 | 3 PM ET	Buddy Bolding Stadium Farmville, Va.	Live Stats
	Saturday Feb. 28 | 12 PM ET	Buddy Bolding Stadium Farmville, Va.	Live Stats
	Saturday Feb. 28 | 4 PM ET	Buddy Bolding Stadium Farmville, Va.	Live Stats
	Sunday March 1 | 1 PM ET	Buddy Bolding Stadium Farmville, Va.	Live Stats

A Glimpse at the Guins

• Senior left-hander Braden Gebhardt is scheduled to take the ball in the series opener on Friday while senior right-hander Jack Messmore will start game one of Saturday's doubleheader. Junior right-hander Mikey Rodriques is slated to make his first career start in game two on Saturday while redshirt senior right-hander Brandon Mikos is YSU's probable starter for the series finale on Sunday.
• The Penguins fell to 0-7 overall on the 2026 season after dropping four games at Oregon this past week. After dropping an 18-1 decision in the series opener on Thursday, YSU came up short by final scores of 3-0 and 7-0 over the next two games of the four-game series. The Ducks earned the series sweep with a 15-6 win in the finale on Sunday.
• The Penguins, who returned back to campus late on Sunday for the first time since leaving for their three-game series at Auburn on Feb. 13-15, set new season highs with five extra-base hits and eight hits overall in their 15-6 loss to the Ducks in the series finale.
• Youngstown State opened the 2026 season with a three-game series at Auburn on opening weekend (Feb. 13-15). The Penguins battled the nationally ranked Tigers to a pair of one-run decisions in the first two games of the series. YSU dropped a 2-1 decision in the season opener on Feb. 13 before falling by the same score in 10 innings in the first game of a doubleheader the following day. Auburn won a 17-2 decision in game two of the doubleheader to conclude the opening weekend series.
• Senior left-hander Braden Gebhardt was named the Under Armour Horizon League Pitcher of the Week for the second time in as many weeks to begin the 2026 season on Monday. Gebhardt, who earned the first weekly Horizon League honor of his career following opening weekend, did not allow an earned run while limiting Oregon to two hits over seven strong innings on the mound in YSU's 3-0 loss to the Ducks on Friday evening at PK Park in Eugene, Ore.
• Gebhardt, the Howland, Ohio, native delivered his second masterful starting pitching performance in as many outings to begin the 2026 season. A week after he recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts over six innings in a stellar Opening Day effort in a 2-1 loss at Auburn in the season opener, Gebhardt matched the longest outing of his career while blanking Oregon in six different frames on Friday. Gebhardt has allowed no earned runs and just four hits with 16 total strikeouts in 13 innings pitched through two starts in 2026. He did not allow a hit over the first three innings at Oregon on Friday while surpassing 150 career strikeouts in his 58th appearance as a Penguin.
• Redshirt junior outfielder Brady Shannon leads the Penguins with five total hits, two home runs, two RBIs and three runs scored through the first two weeks of the 2026 season. The Youngstown, Ohio, native hit his second home run of the season in the series opener at Oregon on Thursday after also going deep in the season opener at Auburn on Feb. 13.
• Freshman infielder Alex Jang is batting .444 and slugging .556 while ranking second on the team with four total hits through the first five games of his collegiate career. The Las Vegas, Nev., native recorded two hits, scored a run and drove in another from the leadoff spot in the series finale at Oregon on Sunday.
• Friday's series opener will mark just the second all-time meeting on the diamond between Youngstown State and Longwood. The Penguins dropped an 11-4 decision at Longwood on March, 9, 2009, in the only previous meeting between the programs.
• Youngstown State is under the direction of second-year head coach Trevor Charpie. In Charpie's first season guiding the program in 2025, the Penguins finished with a 15-42 overall record and an 11-19 mark in Horizon League play to finish fourth in the league standings. There are 38 players on YSU's roster in 2026, and 17 of them were with the program last year. The Penguins return 15 letterwinners from last year's team and have 21 newcomers to the roster.
• YSU's 2026 roster features several starting position players from last year's team. Redshirt junior utility player Nathan Beckley batted .301 and slugged .468 with 15 doubles, four home runs and 42 RBIs in 2025. Senior outfielder Brayden Kuriger batted .301 and slugged .530 with 10 doubles, four triples, eight home runs, 43 RBIs and a team-high 12 stolen bases last season. Beckley and Kuriger were each named to the 2025 Horizon League All-Tournament Team. Redshirt junior outfielder Brady Shannon batted .236 and slugged .461 with three doubles, two triples, 10 home runs, 22 RBIs and 11 stolen bases last season while redshirt senior infielder Garrett Cutting started all 57 games at shortstop for the Penguins in 2025. Sophomore infielder Jay Wrona also returns in 2026 after earning a spot on the 2025 Horizon League All-Freshman Team.
• Freshman infielder Misael Uriepero was selected as D1Baseball.com's Preseason Horizon League Freshman of the Year as the No. 1 ranked player on the website's list of Impact Freshmen in the conference ahead of the 2026 season. The Caracas, Venezuela, native was also ranked as the website's No. 3 MLB Draft prospect in the Horizon League for 2027. Uriepero was also picked as the Horizon League's Preseason Freshman of the Year by Perfect Game. The freshman has been in the starting lineup in each of YSU's first seven games of the 2026 season.
• Beckley, Kuriger and redshirt junior infielder Luke Rossi were each named to Perfect Game's Horizon League Preseason All-Conference Team ahead of the 2026 season. Rossi has played in all seven games and made six starts for the Penguins in 2026 after playing in 66 games over the last two seasons at the College of San Mateo. The Salinas, Calif., native played in 41 games while earning First-Team All-Coast Conference honors as a redshirt sophomore in 2025.
• The Penguins were picked fourth in the 2026 Horizon League Baseball Preseason Poll after a vote of the league's head coaches. D1Baseball.com also picked Youngstown State to finish fourth in the Horizon League standings in 2026.

Series Preview

A Win on Friday Would…

• Give the Penguins their first victory of the 2026 season.
• Be YSU's first victory over Longwood.
• Give the Guins their first win over a current member of the Big South since a 10-9 victory at Radford on March 10, 2015.
• Give Trevor Charpie his 16th career coaching victory.

Scouting Longwood

• Longwood owns a 7-1 record through its first eight games of the 2026 season. The Lancers swept three home games on opening weekend against NJIT before dropping a 5-3 decision at nationally ranked North Carolina on Feb. 18.
• Longwood picked up another three-game sweep and improved to 6-0 at Buddy Bolding Stadium with three victories over UMBC this past weekend. The Lancers most recently won their fourth straight game with an 8-4 victory at Elon on Tuesday.
• Longwood ranks first in the Big South and fifth in the nation in team ERA (2.16). The Lancers also rank second in the Big South and 25th in the nation in doubles with 20 through eight games played. Longwood ranks first in the Big South and seventh in the nation in stolen bases with 28 on the season.
• Graduate student and right-hander Joe Castrichini has allowed one earned run with 11 strikeouts in 12 innings over two starts on the mound while freshman right-hander Brady Hoover boasts a 1-0 record and a 1.86 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched over two starts. Graduate student and left-hander Jaxon Lloyd owns a 2-0 record and a 3.00 ERA with a team-high 15 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched over two starts.
• Freshman outfielder Ben Pulliam is batting .414 and slugging .621 while leading Longwood with 12 total hits, four doubles and 18 total bases. Junior infielder Brogan Jones is batting .346 and slugging .615 with two home runs, nine RBIs and nine runs scored while graduate infielder Jon Howard has two home runs and a team-high 10 RBIs in just 16 at bats over five games played.
• Longwood was picked to finish seventh in the 2026 Big South Preseason Poll. The Lancers finished 2025 with a 14-38 overall record and an 8-16 mark in Big South play in their first season under the direction of head coach Ray Noe.

Series History

• Overall: Longwood leads 1-0
• Charpie: 0-0 // H: 0-0 // A: 0-1 // N: 0-0
• Current Win Streak: 1 by Longwood
• Last Meeting: March 9, 2009 (L, 4-11)
• Longwood rallied from a 4-1 deficit with the help of two breaks in the seventh inning to defeat Youngstown State 11-4 on March 9, 2009, at Lancer Stadium in Farmville, Va., in the lone previous meeting between the programs.
• Youngstown State's last contest against an opponent from the Big South was an 8-4 loss at Gardner-Webb last season on March 9, 2025. The Penguins were swept in a three-game series against the Runnin' Bulldogs last March in YSU's first games against a Big South opponent since the 2018 season.
• YSU's last victory over a current member of the Big South was a 10-9 win at Radford on March 10, 2015.

Recapping Last Week

at Oregon – Thursday, Feb. 19 // L, 1-18

• Youngstown State dropped an 18-1 contest to Oregon in the opener of a four-game series on a chilly Thursday afternoon at PK Park in Eugene, Ore.
• Trailing 4-0 in the top of the second, Brady Shannon blasted a lead-off home run to left field to get the Guins on the scoreboard. It was the second home run of the season for Shannon.
• Brayden Kuriger had a lead-off single in the fourth inning for YSU. The Guins had three walks in the contest as well.
• Youngstown State used four pitchers in the contest with Aidan English suffering the defeat. Tyler Heflin recorded the longest outing with three innings pitched while Brevin Smith pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth in his YSU debut on the mound.
• The Ducks scored four runs in the first inning, six in the third, five in the sixth and three in the eighth. YSU held Oregon scoreless in the four other frames. Ten Oregon hitters had at least one hit and nine Ducks scored at least once. Oregon pitcher Toby Twist earned the winning allowing just one run over five innings.

at Oregon – Friday, Feb. 20 // L, 0-3

• Braden Gebhardt did not allow an earned run while limiting Oregon to two hits over seven strong innings on the mound as Youngstown State fell 3-0 to the Ducks on Friday evening at PK Park.
• The Ducks got on the scoreboard first with a single unearned run in the bottom of the fourth before adding a pair of insurance runs in the eighth. The Penguins loaded the bases with three walks in the ninth before Oregon reliever Devin Bell came out of the bullpen to retire back-to-back Penguins and give the Ducks a 2-0 series lead.
• Gebhardt delivered his second masterful starting pitching performance in as many outings to begin the 2026 season. A week after he recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts over six innings in an impressive Opening Day effort in a 2-1 loss at Auburn in the season opener, Gebhardt matched the longest outing of his career while blanking Oregon in six different frames on Friday.
• Nathan Beckley went 2-for-3 with a walk at the plate as the Penguins bested the Ducks 4-3 in the hit column. Brayden Kuriger and Misael Uriepero added base hits while Uriepero and Garrett Cutting each recorded a stolen base.
• Luke Zmolik was responsible for two runs in his lone inning out of the bullpen for YSU.

at Oregon – Saturday, Feb. 21 // L, 0-7

• Youngstown State dropped a 7-0 contest to Oregon on Saturday afternoon at PK Park. YSU fell behind 5-0 in the third inning, but a strong effort by the bullpen limited the Ducks' offense in the final five frames.
• The Guins threatened at the game's outset when the second batter of the game, Misael Uriepero, hit a deep drive to right field, but Oregon's outfielder Angel Laya reached above the wall to rob the home run.
• After Oregon scored twice in the bottom of the first, the Penguins had two runners on in the second inning. With one out, Jay Wrona hit a single up the middle and Nic Goodwin was hit by a pitch. However, back-to-back YSU fly outs ended the threat.
• In the bottom of the third inning, Oregon's Gabe Miranda belted a lead off solo home run and three batters later, catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus hit a two-run shot to push the Ducks lead to 5-0.
• Over the course of the next 5.2 innings, relievers Jake Ferretti (2.0 IP), Sloan Ulrich (1.2 IP) and Kale Wemer (2.0 IP) scattered four hits and just two runs to keep the Guins in the contest.
• Oregon starter Collin Clarke tossed six innings and combined with two relievers on a two-hit shoutout.
• Penguin starter Jack Messmore surrendered five runs on five hits, including a pair of home runs, in suffering the loss.

at Oregon – Sunday, Feb. 22 // L, 6-15

• Youngstown State set season highs in hits and runs while finishing its seven-game road trip to start the 2026 campaign with a 15-6 loss at Oregon in the series finale on Sunday.
• The Penguins, who had not been back to campus since leaving for their three-game series at Auburn on Feb. 13-15, had five extra-base hits and eight hits overall in their loss to the Ducks on Sunday.
• Brayden Kuriger hit his first home run of the season, and Alex Jang recorded two hits, scored a run and drove in another from the leadoff spot. In addition to Kuriger's homer, the Penguins ripped four doubles. Jang had one of those, while Garrett Cutting, Nathan Beckley and Kendal Spencer accounted for the other three.
• Brandon Mikos was the first of seven Youngstown State pitchers to take the mound on Sunday, and he allowed four runs in the first inning. Aidan Dorsch took over to start the second and had the longest outing with two innings, and Griffin Almond pitched the next 1.1 innings. Luke Zmolik, Bryce Palms and Sumner Estes each had scoreless outings.

Up Next

Youngstown State is scheduled to continue its early season road stretch on Tuesday with its first midweek contest of 2026 at Pitt. First pitch at Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh is slated for 3 p.m.