Dayton, Ohio — A trio of pitchers combined for a historic night, and Youngstown State's run in the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Championship will continue to championship Saturday after the Penguins beat Wright State 6-3 on Friday night.
The top-seeded Raiders came into the tournament ranking among the top 15 teams in the country in several offensive categories, but YSU pitchers Colin Casteel, Gavin Wilms and Nick Perez held the potent offense to three runs on three hits on Friday night at Nischwitz Stadium.
Casteel allowed one run on a single hit over a career-high six innings on the mound to earn his first-career victory. Perez did not allow a hit over 2.1 scoreless innings of relief to collect his second save of the tournament. The Penguins have won four games in the Horizon League Tournament for the first time since winning the championship in 2014.
Jack Johnson hit a two-run double in the second inning to give the sixth-seeded Penguins a 2-1 lead, and they stayed ahead for the remainder of the game. Johnson was one of five Penguins to finish with two hits, and YSU outhit the tournament hosts 12-3.
Youngstown State fought off elimination twice on Friday and has won three straight games in the tournament to emerge out of the elimination bracket. The Penguins will have to beat Northern Kentucky twice on Saturday to advance to the NCAA Regionals for the third time in program history.
The Penguins and Norse will play Saturday at noon in a game that will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and YSNLive.com. If Youngstown State beats NKU, the teams will play again at approximately 4 p.m. in a winner-take-all contest for the Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
After Johnson's two-run double in the second inning gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead, back-to-back RBI singles by Trey Law and Brett Stanley in the fourth extended the margin to 4-1.
Casteel was brilliant in the biggest start of his freshman season, holding the Raiders without a hit after yielding a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first. He surrendered just the one run before handing the ball off to the bullpen in the seventh, which is when Wright State scored twice to get within 4-3.
Perez came on to get the final out in the seventh, and Youngstown State added insurance runs on an RBI double by Chase Franken in the eighth and an RBI single by Teddy Ruffner in the ninth.
Wright State got the tying run to the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and Eli Brown ran down Andrew Patrick's long drive to the warning track in left center to end the game.
Franken went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored while Johnson was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Law, Stanley and Brown each collected two hits as well for the Penguins.
Wright State starter Chet Lax suffered the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits over four innings.
Youngstown State will face second-seeded Northern Kentucky at noon on Saturday. The Penguins will need to defeat the Norse twice on championship Saturday to advance to the NCAA Regionals.
