Wednesday’s line
Youngstown State (R-H-E-LOB): 2-6-1-4
Pitt (R-H-E-LOB): 12-8-0-4
W: Antonio Doganiero (5-1)
L: Aidan Dorsch (-1)
The Youngstown State baseball team (5-25, 3-6 Horizon) made its second trip of the season out to Charles L. Cost Field for a game against Pitt (22-9, 6-6 Atlantic Coast) and got blown out in a 12-2 seven-inning decision on Wednesday evening in a game that took only two hours and 16 minutes to complete.
The Panthers’ offensive explosion started when Kai Wagner led off the second inning with a 416-foot solo home run deep to right field — his fifth of the season. Then, Trey Fenderson singled to shallow right, reached second after Carter Dierdorf walked and went to third after Sebastian Pisacreta flew out to deep right.
After Dierdorf swiped second base, Joey Baran reached on an infield hit to bring in Fenderson to make it 2-0. That was followed up by an RBI groundout to second from Derrick Tarpley Jr. and an RBI base hit through the right from A.J. Nessler, which made it 4-0. Nessler would also steal second base and score on Caden Dulin’s double down the right field line to make it 5-0.
Penguins head coach Trevor Charpie then came out to make a pitching change, taking out starter Aidan Dorsch in favor of Mikey Rodriques, who issued back-to-back walks to Lorenzo Carrier and Wagner to load the bases. Then, Fenderson recorded his second hit of the inning with a two-run single through the left side to cap off a seven-run second frame for the home team.
Pitt didn’t score again until later on in the contest when YSU reliever Griffin Almond led off the bottom of the sixth inning with consecutive walks to Baran, Tarpley, and Nessler to load the bases. Almond was then taken out in favor of Lane Rhodes. Dulin then stepped up and added insult to injury by hitting a grand slam deep to left field – his sixth dinger of the season – to make it an 11-0 game. Moments later, Carrier reached on a ground-rule double, went to third on Wagner’s groundout to second, and scored on Fenderson’s sacrifice fly to cap off a five-run sixth inning for the Panthers and make it a 12-0 game.
Youngstown State avoided the shutout in the top of the seventh inning on a two-run homer from Brady Shannon, his eighth bomb of the season, that went 434 feet and just over the batter’s eye in dead center field. That made it 12-2 to close out the scoring.
Dorsch took the loss for YSU after pitching an inning and two-thirds, allowing six runs on five hits with one walk. Rodriques got one out in the second inning before inheriting a run of his own. Aidan English was the only Penguin that did well on the mound on the night, surrendering just one walk and a hit batsman while tossing three shutout frames out of the bullpen. Almond allowed three walks in as many runs, while Rhodes got all three outs in the sixth and allowed two runs as well.
Pitt starting pitcher Antonio Doganiero threw six innings in five-hit shutout fashion with three walks and seven strikeouts to earn the victory. Freddy Beruvides Jr. struck out the side in the seventh inning, but not before giving up that two-run bomb to Shannon.
The Panthers outhit the Penguins 8-6. Fenderson went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored, while Dulin went 2-for-5 with a double, a grand slam, and five RBIs of his own. Garrett Cutting was the lone YSU player with multiple hits on the day as he went 2-for-3 with a double.
The Penguins return to Horizon League play when they host the conference’s first-place team, the Wright State Raiders, for a three-game weekend series at Cene Park in Struthers, Ohio. Friday afternoon’s first pitch is set for 1 p.m.
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