Rohan’s 10th Inning Single Gives Penguins Doubleheader Split

by YSU

Sunday, Feb 21, 2016 7:24 pm

Gerrad Rohan's two-out single in the top of the 10th inning lifted the Youngstown State baseball team to an 8-7 victory in game one of a doubleheader at Western Kentucky on Saturday afternoon at Nick Denes Field. The Hilltoppers won game two 11-1.

Rohan's single ended a back-and-forth final five innings, and it gave the Penguins their first win of 2016. YSU rallied with three runs in the seventh inning and another in the eighth go up 7-5, but Western Kentucky tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the eighth.

In the 10th, Billy Salem singled to right with two outs and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Rohan then singled to right center to bring in Salem with the winning run.

Rohan finished 3-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBIs, and Salem had a pair of hits and scored twice. Lorenzo Arcuri reached base three times and scored twice.

Arcuri walked and scored on Rohan's fielder's choice in the first to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead, but Paul Murray's two-run double in the bottom of the inning put WKU up. Both teams scored in the fourth, and Arcuri's sacrifice fly in the sixth tied the score at 3-3.

WKU went back on top with two runs in the sixth, but YSU scored three times in the seventh to go ahead 6-5. Salem walked and Rohan followed with a single, and Dominic Brown's sacrifice bunt advanced them. Nico Padovan plated both runs with a single to center, and he proceeded to steal second and score the go-ahead run on an Andrew Kendrick single. A Salem RBI groundout plated Arcuri in the eight to put the Penguins ahead 7-5.

The first three Hilltoppers reached in the eighth, and Kaleb Duckworth's RBI single got WKU within one. After YSU's Kevin Yarabinec induced a big double play, Harrison Scanlon tied the game with a single to center.

Padovan was thrown out at the plate to end the top of the ninth, and Yarabinec responded to retire WKU in order in the bottom of the inning to give the Penguins a chance in extra innings. After Rohan's go-ahead single, Yarabinec held the Hilltoppers scoreless in the bottom half to earn the win.

Yarabinec allowed two runs on five hits in 3.1 innings, and Joel Hake pitched 1.1 innings off scoreless relief. WKU had seven pitchers take the mound.

In game two, Western Kentucky scored three runs in the third inning, and it added two in the fourth and single tallies in the fifth and sixth innings to go up 7-0.

YSU's run came in the top of the eighth when Salem plated Anthony Rohan on a groundout. The Hilltoppers scored four times in the eighth for the final tally.

Youngstown State will play a four-game series at Fresno State on Friday at 9:05 p.m. Eastern.