YSU baseball comes up short vs. Eastern Kentucky

Staff Report

The Youngstown State baseball team hit two home runs but fell 11-6 in its series finale at Eastern Kentucky on Sunday.

Eastern Kentucky swept the series, outscoring the Penguins 30-9.

Lorenzo Arcuri and Shane Willoughby both homered, and both players drove in three runs for the Penguins. Arcuri, Willoughby, Alex Larivee and Lou Cardona each had at least two hits, and YSU finished with 12 as a team.

EKU had 14 hits, and five of its runs were unearned.

Arcuri gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead with an RBI double that plated Wes Charles in the top of the second. EKU tied the score in the in the bottom half when Logan Starnes scored as Jacob Abbott got caught in a rundown between first and second. The Colonels went ahead when She Sullivan tripled in a pair of runs with two outs in the third inning.

EKU capitalized on a two-out error in the fourth inning and ended up scoring four runs to take a 7-1 lead. After a leadoff single, reliever Kevin Yarabinec retired the next two batters. An error and an infield single followed, and Ben Fisher’s two-run double made the score 5-1. Nick Howie’s two-run single two batters later extended the margin to six runs.

YSU got right back in the game in the top of the fifth when Willoughby homered with Anthony Rohan and Nico Padovan on base. EKU scored another unearned run in the fifth to go up 8-4, but the Penguins kept coming in the top of the sixth. Charles drew a one-out walk and scored two batters later on Arcuri’s first career home run.

EKU answered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth and one in the seventh.