Anthony Rohan hit a grand slam as part of an eight-run second inning, and the Youngstown State baseball team earned one of the biggest regular-season wins in program history by beating No. 17 Georgia Tech 12-3 on Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Rohan had one of three home runs on the day for the Penguins, who gave first-year head coach Dan Bertolini his first victory at YSU. Andrew Kendrick had three hits, including a two-run homer three batters after Rohan's grand slam in the second inning, and Trey Bridis added a two-run blast in the fifth.
Starting pitcher Collin Floyd provided the Penguins with five strong innings as YSU built its lead, and the bullpen did not allow a baserunner in shutout frames to hand the Yellow Jackets their first loss of 2017. Floyd allowed the three runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out five batters in five innings. Jesse Slinger pitched two scoreless innings, and Gino DiVincenzo and Kevin Yarabinec blanked Georgia Tech in the eighth and ninth.
"It couldn't get much better to get the first win here today," Bertolini said. "I couldn't be prouder of this group of guys. Things hadn't gone our way right away, but we've stayed committed to the process and what we're trying to do here. We had a great performance from Collin Floyd, and Anthony Rohan picked a good way to get his first career home run. You can go up and down the lineup picking guys who came up big. We're going to enjoy the heck out of this one and get back to work next week."
After YSU fell behind big in the first inning of the first two games of the series, Floyd got a big foul out with the bases loaded to end the first on Sunday. The Penguins seized the momentum and proceeded to score eight runs on five hits in the second.
Kendrick led off with a single, and a walk of Alex Larivee and a single by Lorenzo Arcuri loaded the bases with one out. Anthony Santoro was hit by pitch to bring in the first run of the game, and Nico Padovan drew a five pitch walk to make the score 2-0. Georgia Tech starting pitcher Keyton Gibson just missed inside on a 1-2 pitch to Rohan, and Rohan cleared the bases with a blast to left two pitches later to put the Penguins up 6-0. Kendrick's home run later in the inning increased the margin to 8-0.
Brandt Stallings hit a solo homer for the Yellow Jackets in the bottom of the second, and Bridis' home run put the Penguins up 10-1 in the fifth. A two-run single by Joey Bart in the bottom of the fifth got the Yellow Jackets within 10-3, and YSU answered with two runs in the sixth on a passed ball and a sacrifice fly by Kendrick.
Youngstown State will begin a three-game series at Eastern Kentucky on Friday at 4 p.m.
