Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

CANFIELD, Ohio – Junior Whitney Stratton (Muskegon, MI/Fruitport) doubled to lead off the third inning of the first game and added a single in the second contest and has now reached base in 15 straight games as the Titans fell in a pair of Horizon League games Wednesday at Youngstown State.

Freshman pitcher Julia Maksym (Manistee, MI/Manistee) allowed just one hit for Detroit (5-23, 0-8 Horizon League) in three innings in the first contest before Youngstown State scored a pair in the fourth inning en route to a 6-2 win. The Penguins (21-14, 4-7 Horizon League) also took a second victory with an 8-0 decision in five innings in game two.

Stratton now leads Detroit with a .300 average on the year and is hitting .417 (15-36) in the last 15 games.

In the opener, the Titans took a run back in the top of the fifth as freshman Karyn McCarty (Allen Park, MI/Cabrini) crossed the plate for Detroit. McCarty led off the inning with a double down the right field line and advanced to third on a passed ball. Two batters later she came home on a RBI single from freshman Katelyn Steffel (Defiance, OH/Defiance). 

Two singles and a home run gave the Penguins three runs in the fifth and put the home team up 5-1.

Detroit continued to hang around as the sixth started with four straight Titan hits. Freshmen Erin Huddleston (Normal, IL/Normal West) and Shelby Long (St. Peters, MO/Fort Zumwalt) started the frame with back-to-back singles before junior Renee Zaccagni (Macomb, MI/Dakota) cashed in Huddleston with a double down the left field line.

The Titans could not keep the rally going and ran into fielding problems in the bottom of the inning with a throwing error that led to another run and a 6-2 deficit. Detroit ended the sixth inning with a nice defensive play as Stratton caught a line drive at second base and touched the bag to end the threat.

A scoreless seventh inning brought a 6-2 final in game one. Long finished the opener 3-3 at the plate with singles in the second, fourth, and sixth innings. 

Game two saw the best scoring chances for Detroit come in the first two innings as the first started with a leadoff walk to Steffel. Two batters later, freshman Sara Cupp (Hartland, MI/Milford) had a single to move Steffel to second but the Titan bats went silent and no runs scored.

The second inning saw McCarty, Detroit's second batter of the inning, also draw a walk. Two batters later another single, this time from Stratton advanced McCarty into scoring position but with two down, a groundout ended the inning.

Youngstown slowly plated runs in the second contest scoring in each of the five innings. The Penguins started out with one in the first, two in the second, one in each the third and fourth innings, and added three more in the fifth to reach the 8-0 score.

Detroit will head to Chicago this weekend to face another Horizon League opponent in UIC. Saturday will have a doubleheader start at 2:00 p.m. (all times Eastern) and Sunday will feature a single game scheduled for 1:00 p.m.