CHICAGO — Senior Lou Gattozzi needed only one swing to spark a late offensive surge and keep

CHICAGO — Senior Lou Gattozzi needed only one swing to spark a late offensive surge and keep Youngstown State alive in the Horizon League Baseball Championship.

Gattozzi hit a pinch-hit two-run home run in the eighth inning that gave YSU the lead. The Penguins went on to score seven times in the ninth inning to defeat Cleveland State, 15-9, in an elimination game at Les Miller Park.

“We gave it all we had today,” Penguins coach Mike Florak said. “In the beginning, we came out ready to play and it was just a long battle. We never gave up. We just ran into a guy that pitched really, really well.

The Penguins will get another crack at UW-Milwaukee, which defeated YSU 16-6 in the tournament’s opening round. YSU and UW-Milwaukee will play today at 4 p.m.

“These guys will have tournament experience,” Florak said. “They’ll figure out what it takes to keep plugging away and not give up any at bats. We have to keep going forward and keep fighting.”

Youngstown State led three different times before Cleveland State went ahead for the first time when three-run sixth made the score 6-4.

YSU got a run across on John Koehnlein’s single, and Gattozzi’s first home run of the season in the eighth put the Penguins up for good at 8-6.

Brent Parks’ three-run double highlighted the seven-run ninth. Cleveland State scored three times in the bottom half before bowing out of the tournament.

The Vikings finished the season at 14-44.

Josh Page had a game-high three hits for YSU while Parks drove in four runs and scored three times.

Three different players had two hits apiece for Cleveland State.

Freshman Aaron Swenson picked up his third win of the season, holding the Vikings to one hit in 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.

Andy Svitak earned his ninth save after coming in with a slim two-run lead in the eighth.

“You had to feel so good for Lou with all of the injuries he’s battled to walk in and take one swing and put us ahead,” Florak said. “Brent and Andy were two four-year guys that were part of our championship team, and they’ll be missed greatly.”

Koehnlein had one hit in five at bats, but was able to extend his school-record hitting streak to 27 games.

“He had a different arm angle being a big, tall guy. It was a different look, and we hit some balls sharply that didn't fall. The wind also swallowed a few balls up instead of helping us out like the past few days.”