NILES, Ohio. - The Golden Grizzlies fell to the Youngstown State Penguins, 10-4, this afternoon for its first game of its weekend series on Eastwood Field.
 
The Golden Grizzlies (22-19, 11-8 HL) were led by Brandon Nigh who tallied a pair of RBI on the day as Reggie Bussey paced the team with his two hits. Hunter Pidek led the pitching core as he tallied a trio of strikeouts and no walks on the day.
 
The Penguins (9-32, 6-13 HL) had four batters record a pair of RBI as Eli Brown led the team with three hits. Jacob Gehring pitched a complete game and struck out five for the Penguins.
 
Youngstown State jumped out to an early lead as it went ahead by three after its first at-bats. Oakland was quick to respond though as Brandon Heidal led off the second with a home run to get the Golden Grizzlies on the board as it turned three straight outs in the bottom of the frame. The bats continued for Oakland as John Lauinger got on the base pads with two outs as Nigh sent himself and Lauinger home with a two-run jack towards left center to knot things at three.
 
It wasn't long before the Penguins regained the lead as it batted in a pair of runs in the bottom of the third to go ahead a pair. The Penguins kept it going as it left Carter Hain stranded 90 feet from home and followed it up with its sixth run of the evening to put Oakland down even more. Youngstown State added one more off a home run as it took a 7-3 lead into the seventh.
 
Trent Rice helped ease the lead as he hit the third home run for Oakland in the game, but the Penguins offense was too much as it added two more in the bottom of the frame, followed by one more in the eighth to take game one of the series, 10-4.
 
Oakland was outhit, 15-8, as Youngstown State committed one less error on the day with two. All four runs for the Golden Grizzlies came off a home run, as Nigh was the sole player to bring in more than one run. Every Penguin in the lineup recorded at least a hit as seven Golden Grizzlies tallied at least a hit.
 
The Golden Grizzlies return to the diamond tomorrow (April 27) to continue its weekend series against the Penguins, with first pitch slated for 3:00 p.m. ET.