Youngstown, OH – The bats came alive and then some for the Mastodons over the last week. Purdue Fort Wayne (3-19, 2-4 Horizon League) had a single game with the Falcons of Bowling Green State University (16-7, 7-2 MAC) on Tuesday in Bowling Green where the score looked like the end of the 1st quarter for a Mastodon women’s basketball game. To wrap up the week, the Mastodons continued across the state of Ohio for their second league series of the season against the Youngstown State Penguins (4-18, 2-4 Horizon League) where the Mastodons would take the series two games to one.
Bowling Green (3/18): The Mastodons finally got the bats going for the season. Coming into the contest, the Mastodons offense produced 50 runs over their first 18 games (2.8 runs per game). The Mastodons would go on to score 2 runs per inning in Tuesday’s game against BGSU. However, some timely hits in the 8th inning, including a home run, from the Falcons would be just enough to squeak by the Purdue Fort Wayne bats with a walk-off single in the 9th, by a score of 18-19.
The Mastodons used 8 pitchers against the Falcons, with no pitcher throwing more than 3 innings. Junior Gavin Walters got the start on the mound for the Mastodons. He would allow 2 hits on 22 pitches, allowing one earned run in 1.0 inning of work. Freshman Trent Murphy would be the “iron man” for the ‘Dons going 3.0 complete innings on 55 pitches. Freshman Carter Orner would pick up the loss as he would come in the bottom of the ninth after the Falcons put up 5 in the 8th to put the game well within striking distance. Bowling Green’s Junior Sam Seidel would single into left field to bring home Sophomore Garrett Wright who had the game tying RBI two batters earlier.
Fortunately for the ‘Dons, there are plenty of bright spots offensively to take away from the game. Sophomore Justin Osterhouse had a career game at the plate. The Grand Rapids native made it look so easy as he would homer in the 1st inning, hit a grand slam in the 2nd inning, and would crush his third homerun of the game in 4th inning on the first pitch he saw. Osterhouse was then intentionally walked in his fourth plate appearance in the top of the 5th, 7th, and 8th to the dismay of the Mastodon fans, but to the surprise of absolutely no one. Senior Jackson Micheels would also hit a home run in the top of the 7th inning and be intentionally walked in the 8th.
The Mastodons would tally 19 hits as a team and 4 intentional walks. The Mastodons would leave 11 runners stranded on the bases and would strike out 8 times. Senior Connar Penrod would pick up the win for the Falcons as he would strike out the first two batters of the inning and get Osterhouse to fly out to center field to end the Mastodon’s offensive attack.
Team Stats:
PFW – 18 R, 19 H (HR Osterhouse (3), Micheels), 4 SB (Sawa (2), Shirley, Hall), 1 E (Shirley)
BGSU – 19 R, 17 H (2B Wright, Newman (2). HR Takats, Wright, Ganun, Parker), 2 SB (Takats, Horky), 3 E (Sloan, Antillon, Sova)
Youngstown St. (Game 1 – 3/21): The Mastodons would use their own rally in the top of the 9th inning to secure a 5-4 victory in the first game of the season against the YSU Penguins. In the lowest scoring affair of the week, The Mastodons would use 4 pitchers in the victory. Graduate Student Dillon Fischer would get the start for the Mastodons, and he would go 5.0 innings, tossing 100 pitches against the 24 batters he faced. He would allow 5 hits and 3 earned runs to score in his outing. PFW would turn to Freshman Aidan Pearson who would throw a nice 3.0 innings, allowing only 2 hits, no walks, and no runs to score. Pearson would pick up the victory and (R) Senior Rex Stills would get the save after shutting down the Penguins in the 9th.
After a career day on Tuesday, Osterhouse would go hitless (0-3) in this game. The Mastodons would find just enough production from the rest of the team to get by. Senior Camden Karczewski would get the scoring started for the Mastodons in the 3rd, when he hit a fly ball deep enough into left field allowing Sophomore Kevin Hall to tag up at third base and score. In the 6th, Jackson Micheels would pop up into the shallow outfield forcing the shortstop for the Penguins to retreat to make the catch. The tough play would be enough for Sophomore Grant Sawa to tag at third and score on the sacrifice fly. The Mastodons would then score three in the top of the 9th when Freshman Drew Helton would single through the right side scoring (R) Junior Ryan Jenkins. The next two runs would come with bases loaded where Graduate Student Garrett Maish and (R) Sophomore Augusto Schroeder would get hit by a pitch in back-to-back at bats plating two runs for the Mastodons.
Team Stats:
PFW – 5 R, 7 H (2B Karczewski. 3B Hall), 2 SF (Micheels, Karczewski), SB (Sawa, Maish, Kasparie), 0 E
YSU – 4 R, 8 H (2B Fossum. HR Rover), SF (Johnson), 3 E (Kuriger, Brown, Gehring)
Youngstown St. (Game 2 – 3/23): In the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday (Saturday rescheduled due to weather), the Mastodons played well until a pitching and defensive meltdown in the bottom of the 7th inning would allow YSU to plate 6 runners and take a one run lead. The Mastodons would tie it in the 8th, but the Penguins would also score one in the 8th to win 12-11.
Junior southpaw Zane Danielson got the start for the ‘Dons in Game 2 of the series. He would finish the afternoon throwing 5.0 innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 4 hits while striking out 5. (R) Sophomore Cole Newell would take the loss for the Mastodons pitching in just the bottom of the 8th inning where he would allow the eventual game winning run on 1 hit, but a wild pitch would help the Penguins score.
Offensively, the Mastodons put up 10 singles against the Penguins’ pitching staff. Osterhouse and Karczewski each had 2 singles in this game. The Mastodons would also display some good plate discipline drawing 12 walks. The ‘Dons had some chances to plate additional runners, but the 13 runners left on base would have significantly helped the Mastodons in this one.
Team Stats:
PFW – 11 R, 10 H, 2 SB (Adams, Schroeder), 2 E (Osterhouse, Sawa)
YSU – 12 R, 12 H (2B Fossum. 3B Kuriger), 4 SB (Cutting (2), Rover, Beckley), 1 E (Tylicki)
Youngstown St. (Game 3 – 3/23): In Game 2 of the doubleheader and Game 3 of the series, both teams literally and metaphorically were swinging. The Mastodons used an 11-run 3rd inning and 9 runs in the final four innings to play keep away from the YSU rally to take the game and the series by a score of 20-16.
Sophomore Sean Kasper would get the start for the Mastodons in the series finale. In Kasper’s 3.0 innings, he would allow 6 hits and 4 total runs (3 earned) on 67 pitches and 3 strikeouts. Carter Orner would replace Kasper in the 4th and get another go on the bump after the tough loss at Bowling Green. Orner would allow 4 more earned runs on 5 hits and 56 pitches, but he would be the pitcher when the Mastodons would score 11 and take the lead for good, handing the 6’7” freshman his first collegiate victory.
In a game where all batters in the starting lineup would record at least 1 hit, PFW was led by a 3-6 performance from Augusto Schroeder. Shroeder, Senior Dylan Chargo, and Freshman Sage Adams would each record 3 RBIs. The Penguins would also give the Mastodons 10 of their 20 runs as the Mastodons would score on 3 wild pitches, 1 passed ball, 1 balk, 2 hit by pitches and 3 walks. PFW would slap on 6 earned runs to starter Tyler Heflin for YSU who would only last 2.0 innings.
Team Stats:
PFW – 20 R, 14 H (2B Schroeder (2), Sailors), SB (Micheels, Shirley), SF (Micheels), 4 E (Osterhouse (2), Sailors, Micheels)
YSU – 16 R, 19 H (2B Fossum, Kuriger, Brown. HR Fossum)
Coming Up: The Penguins will get their crack at the Falcons on Tuesday, March 25 at Bowling Green. They will have another HL weekend series March 28-31, but this time against Wright State in Dayton.
The Mastodons will play their first home game of the season against another MAC team in Toledo. The Rockets (8-14, 4-5 MAC) are coming off a two-hit shutout against Ohio University. The game against Toledo is scheduled for a 3:00pm ET first pitch.
The Mastodons’ league schedule will also continue in Fort Wayne March 28-31 with a weekend series against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (5-20, 2-4 Horizon League). The first two games of the series will be played at neighboring Indiana Tech’s field, and the series finale will be back on Purdue Fort Wayne’s campus at Mastodon Field. The games are scheduled to start at 3:00 pm ET, 2:00 pm ET, and 1:00 pm ET respectively.
