The Youngstown State baseball team will play road games at Louisville and Ohio State and host 20 home games at Eastwood Field in 2018, Head Coach Dan Bertolini announced.
The Penguins will open the 2018 season on Feb. 16 at Belmont, and they will proceed to play their first 15 games of the season on the road. The final of those 15 games will be at Pittsburgh on March 13, and the home opener is slated for March 16 against Milwaukee.
After the opening series at Belmont, YSU will play a three-game series at Louisville the next weekend. The Cardinals were 53-12 last season and made an appearance in the College World Series. The Penguins will then travel to Kissimmee, Fla. the next weekend for a three-game, neutral-site tournament which will include a contest against Notre Dame.
Horizon League play for the Penguins will start at home against Milwaukee on March 16-18, and YSU is scheduled to play 30 conference games in a nine-week span between March 16 and May 19. The team will stay in Ohio after the home-opening Milwaukee series to play at Kent State on March 20 and at Toledo the next day. The March schedule will conclude with a non-conference contest at Eastern Michigan on the 27th, and a home league series vs. UIC on March 29-31.
April will start with YSU hosting Pittsburgh on the third before beginning a seven-game road trip. The stretch will begin with a three-game series at Oakland April 6-8 before a non-conference game at Bowling Green on the 10th. The Penguins will then head to Wright State for a three-game conference slate April 13-15. The group will return to Eastwood Field for a matchup with St. Bonaventure on April 17 then make the short trip south to Columbus for a game at Ohio State the next night.
YSU will play 11 of 12 games on the road from April 6-22, concluding with a three-game set at Milwaukee April 20-22. The Penguins will then begin a season-long, eight-game home stand on April 24 with a doubleheader against Niagara and Bowling Green. YSU will then welcome Wright State to Eastwood Field for a three-game series on April 27-29 to finish the month. The home stand will conclude with three games against Oakland on May 4-6.
The Penguins will then finish the season with seven of their last eight games on the road. The stretch will commence in Athens on May 9 with a contest against Ohio before a three-game conference set at Northern Kentucky on May 11-13. The team will play their final home game on May 15 against Kent State before wrapping up the regular season at UIC on May 17-19.
The Horizon League Tournament is scheduled for May 23-26 at the home of the regular-season champion.
2018 Youngstown State Schedule
