Struthers, Ohio -- Youngstown State's baseball team dropped its Horizon League series opener 15-4 to Wright State on a rainy Friday afternoon at Bob Cene Park.
Playing at the ballpark in Struthers for the first time in 14 years, the Penguins were held to four hits by the Raiders, who improved to 9-1 in conference play. Two of those hits were solo homers by Jack Messmore and Brady Shannon, and Alex Jang had the other two from the leadoff spot.
The Penguins scored the game's first run when Messmore homered in his first at bat as a Penguin. Messmore, who will be YSU's starting pitcher on Saturday, turned on a high 3-2 fastball and hit it over the right-field wall.
YSU starter Braden Gebhardt worked around one hit in each of the first two innings, but the Raiders posted four runs on six hits off the senior southpaw in the third. After a leadoff single, Hunter Warren put the Raiders ahead with a two-run homer to left. Wright State had four more hits in the inning, and Keegan Holmstrom scored on a wild pitch, and Andrew Duncan scored on an RBI single after there were two outs.
With his second punchout of the game in the top of the second inning, Gebhardt became just the ninth pitcher in YSU history to reach 200 career strikeouts. The Howland, Ohio, native currently ranks eighth in program history with 202 career strikeouts after fanning four batters in Friday's series opener with the Raiders.
Shannon's solo blast to center field led off the fourth inning and brought the Penguins to within 4-2, but the Raiders got the run back on a sacrifice fly in the fifth to increase the margin to three.
Cy Turner homered on the first pitch of the top of the sixth to give Wright State a 6-2 lead, and the Raiders blew the game open by scoring six runs after the first two batters were retired in the seventh. Wright State had just one hit in the inning, a three-run double by JP Peltier, as it took a 12-2 advantage.
Wright State reliever Michael Zielinski walked the first three Penguins in the bottom of the seventh, and Jang plated two runs on a one-out double to left center to make the score 12-4. The Raiders added to their lead with three runs on five hits and a walk in the ninth.
Wright State finished with 19 hits, and Gus Gregory was 4-for-5 with two RBIs. Warren, Peltier and Turner had three hits apiece.
Gebhardt was charged with five runs, four of which were earned, on 10 hits over 4.2 innings. Kale Wemer surrendered one run over the next 1.2 innings, and he retired the first batter in the seventh inning before the Raiders forced the Penguins to use four pitchers in the inning.
Cam Allen pitched the first six innings for the Raiders before handing the ball to the bullpen after the long top of the seventh. The Wright State starter allowed just two hits, the two solo homers, and struck out five while earning his third victory of the season.
The Penguins and the Raiders will play game two of their three-game series at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Bob Cene Park.
