Youngstown State University Men's Baseball

Former minor league pitcher and collegiate standout Trevor Charpie will be in his second season as the head coach of the Youngstown State baseball program in 2025-26. Charpie, a native of Anaheim Hills, Calif., was named the 10th head coach in program history after serving as an assistant coach for the Penguins during the 2024 season. He began the campaign as an assistant coach and camp coordinator before being elevated to the role of primary pitching coach midway through the season. Charpie pitched in the minor leagues from 2017-19 after a successful collegiate career that included stops at Tennessee, Saddleback College and Nevada. In Charpie’s first season guiding the program, the Penguins finished with a 15-42 overall record and an 11-19 mark in Horizon League play to finish fourth in the league standings. While incorporating a large group of 21 newcomers to the program, YSU set new single-season school records for home runs (76) and walks (306) while posting its highest marks in RBIs (348), runs scored (391) and runs per game (6.9) since 2010. Charpie earned his first career head coaching victory in YSU’s 8-5 win at Abilene Christian on Feb. 23, 2025. Charpie helped senior outfielder and Washington transfer Kyle Fossum put together one of the most prolific seasons at the plate in YSU history in 2025.  The Seattle, Wash., native was named Horizon League Player of the Year and First-Team All-Horizon League after batting .382 with 84 hits and setting new single-season school records for home runs (23), slugging percentage (.777), RBIs (62), runs scored (67) and total bases (171). Fossum was also named to the ABCA/Rawlings East All-Region First Team to become the first Penguin since 2021 to garner first-team all-region honors. He was also named to the ABCA/Rawlings All-America Third Team to become the first Penguin since 2001 to garner All-America recognition. Charpie also coached senior right-hander Jacob Gehring to Second-Team All-Horizon League honors in 2025. Gehring ranked in the top 10 in the Horizon League in strikeouts, innings pitched, ERA and opponent batting average over 12 starts on the mound. Redshirt junior right-hander Brandon Mikos earned five wins on the mound in 2025 while recording career highs of 42 strikeouts and 58 innings pitched over 14 appearances and 11 starts. Mikos was named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week on March 12, 2025. Charpie also helped true freshman infielder Jay Wrona earn a spot on the Horizon League All-Freshman Team in 2025. Wrona batted .313 with seven doubles, one triple, 13 RBIs, 27 walks and 24 runs scored over 40 games played and 33 starts in his debut collegiate campaign. He set a new single-game school record with five walks in YSU's 20-14 win at Milwaukee on April 18, 2025. Junior left-hander Braden Gebhardt and senior right-hander Jacob Gehring were each named to the Horizon League All-Academic Team and the 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® Baseball Team for their combined performance on the field and in the classroom. Gebhardt was named to the CSC Academic All-District Team for the second straight season to become just the third two-time honoree in program history. Gebhardt is the first Penguin to earn Academic All-District honors multiple times since Drew Dosch in 2012-13. The Youngstown State baseball program was recognized as a recipient of the American Baseball Coaches Association's 2024-25 Team Academic Excellence Award, presented by Sports Attack, following Charpie's first season at the helm. YSU finished the 2024-25 academic year with a 3.42 cumulative GPA after posting a mark of 3.31 during the spring semester. The Penguins had an impressive 30 student-athletes post a GPA of at least 3.0 during the spring. Charpie helped coach Youngstown State to a memorable run in the 2024 Horizon League Baseball Championship as the Penguins won four games and earned a runner-up finish. YSU won four games in the league tournament for the first time since winning the championship in 2014. YSU’s team ERA also fell nearly five points after Charpie took over as the primary pitching coach during the season. Charpie helped junior right-hander Jacob Gehring collect First-Team All-Horizon League honors in 2024. Gehring tied the single-season school record with 15 games started while ranking in the top 10 in the Horizon League in wins, ERA, strikeouts and innings pitched. Charpie also helped Nick Perez earn a spot on the 2024 Horizon League All-Tournament Team. The senior right-hander earned two saves and a victory while tossing 6.1 scoreless innings over three appearances in the league tournament. Prior to arriving in Youngstown, Charpie served as the pitching coach at Golden West College in 2022-23. He previously served as an assistant at Brea High School in 2021-22, and he was the varsity pitching coach at Canyon High School in 2019-20. Charpie also spent five years coaching for the travel ball organization Orange County Premier. Charpie pitched for the Montgomery Biscuits, the AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, during the 2019 season. He finished his MiLB career with a 9-2 record, two saves, a 3.47 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 72.2 innings pitched over 42 appearances. He also pitched three seasons in the Frontier League for the Joliet Slammers from 2020-22. Charpie posted an 8-11 record and a 4.58 ERA with 121 strikeouts in 171 innings pitched over 31 appearances and 25 starts during his two seasons at Nevada from 2016-17. As a junior in 2016, he posted a 5-4 record and a 3.74 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 74.2 innings pitched over 16 appearances and 10 starts. As a senior in 2017, Charpie was named Second-Team All-Mountain West after recording a 3-7 record and a 5.23 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 96.1 innings pitched over a career-high 15 starts. Before transferring to Nevada, Charpie spent the 2015 season at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif. He posted a 3-4 record, four saves, a 2.50 ERA and a team-high 54 strikeouts in 57.2 innings pitched over 20 appearances while helping lead the Gauchos to a 27-16 record. Charpie spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Tennessee, making 22 total appearances. As a freshman in 2013, he made 21 appearances while posting a 3-4 record, two saves and a 6.78 ERA in 38 innings pitched. Charpie made one appearance for the Volunteers in 2014 before redshirting. Charpie had a standout prep career at JSerra Catholic High School, where he was a 2012 Rawlings California Region Honorable Mention selection. He claimed a spot on the 2012 Under Armour Preseason All-America Team, and he was tabbed a 2011 Perfect Game Underclass Honorable Mention All-American. Charpie earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree from Nevada in May 2017.

Eric Bunnell, a Northeast Ohio native, will be in his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Youngstown State baseball program in 2021-22. Bunnell will serve as the team's primary hitting coach for the first time in 2022. Bunnell served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Chicago in 2018 and has 17 years of collegiate coaching experience. Most recently in 2021, YSU went 32-24 to post its best record in 26 years. The Penguins reached the 30-win plateau for just the second time in program history and for the first time since going 37-17 in 1995. Youngstown State also reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2010. The Penguins went 24-16 in Horizon League play to set a new program record for Horizon League and conference wins. The previous record of 16 Horizon League wins was set in 2006 while the previous mark of 18 conference wins was set in 1995. YSU finished the season with a winning record for the first time since 2005, and it secured a winning record in league play for the first time since 2008. Youngstown State finished the 2021 season with a 19-4 record at Eastwood Field to set a new program record for home wins. The previous mark of 18 home wins was set in 1977. YSU also won 13 road games in 2021, which was its most since winning 14 in 2006. It marked the first season since 2010 in which the Penguins have won at least 10 road contests. Bunnell, who worked closely with YSUs catchers, helped coach senior Nick Caruso to a career year in 2021. Caruso set new career highs with a .310 batting average, a .472 slugging percentage, 10 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 31 RBIs and a .375 on-base percentage. He also recorded a .989 fielding percentage with just four errors in 380 chances behind the plate. In addition, Caruso was named Horizon League Batter of the Week on April 20. Following the season, Caruso signed a professional contract with the Westside Woolly Mammoths of the United Shore Professional Basseball League (USPBL). In 2020, YSU went 7-7 before the season was ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Penguins won three of their first four weekend series and a midweek contest at ACC member Pitt for their best start since 2010. YSU won two out of three games at preseason No. 35 Houston on opening weekend to begin the season 2-1 for the first time since 2001. Youngstown State had the most wins and the best winning percentage in the Horizon League when the season came to an end. In his first season with the Penguins, Bunnell helped coach four players to postseason Horizon League recognition. Blaze Glenn and Jeff Wehler were voted to the All-Horizon League Second Team for the second straight season, and Phillip Glasser and Dylan Swarmer earned nods to the All-Freshman Team. Bunnell helped guide Swarmer to an impressive debut season in 2019. The true freshman started 41 of 54 games behind the plate after being pressed into full-time duty early in the season due to injuries. In a win over Wright State on May 4, Swarmer became the first YSU catcher to hit two home runs in a game since 2004. For his performance, he was named a National Top 30 Performer for May 4 by D1Baseball.com. Swarmer also became the first Penguin since 2012 to record five hits in a game when he went 5-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored at Penn State on April 9. Swarmer led the Penguins and finished the season ranked tied for fourth in the Horizon League with three triples. Defensively, he ranked tied for fourth in the league with 11 runners caught stealing, and eighth with 256 putouts. He was also second on the team among regular starters with a .982 fielding percentage. With Bunnell on the staff in 2018, UChicago tied the school record for wins in a season by posting a 26-13 record while the offense scored eight runs per game. Outfielder Maximiliano Larsen was named as an All-Region selection by D3baseball.com after ranking second in the nation with 23 doubles. Larsen also broke the school record for career doubles with 60. In addition to working with the Maroons hitters, Bunnell also worked with the defense and base runners. Bunnell spent the 2014-17 seasons as an assistant coach at Saint Josephs College in Rensselaer, Ind., where he worked with infielders and base runners. The Pumas went 35-22 in 2017 on their way to earning berths in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. The Pumas posted a .968 fielding percentage in 2015, which was the programs highest mark in more than a decade. Prior to joining the staff at SJC, Bunnell served as the top assistant at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, from 2011-13. During his tenure, the program won 66 games over a three-year span and qualified for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament in back-to-back seasons. The Storm set a school record for wins in 2012 with 27. Bunnell worked closely with shortstop Ryan Rua, who was selected in the 17th round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers. Rua made his MLB debut in the infield in 2014 against Kansas City, eventually earning a starting outfield position in the Rangers' opening day lineup in 2015. In 2009 and 2010, Bunnell was an assistant coach at North Central College in Naperville, Ill. The Cardinals won the 2010 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) championship on their way to a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Bunnell got his start in coaching at his alma mater, Mount Union, during the 2005-08 seasons. During that span, the Purple Raiders tied the school record for wins twice and made two conference tournament appearances. In 2008, Bunnell was named Manager of the Year in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League after guiding the Stark County Terriers to a franchise-best 27 victories. Since 2004, 20 of his former players have gone on to play professionally. During his playing career at Mount Union, Bunnell earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors in 2003 and was named to the All-Tournament team in 2002 after helping lead the Purple Raiders to the conference championship game. A native of Conneaut, Ohio, Bunnell earned a bachelors degree in business and marketing from Mount Union as well as a masters degree in liberal studies from North Central College. Bunnell is married to Alyson (Kieffer) Bunnell and they have a daughter named Everly.

Former collegiate student-athlete and hitting coach Nate Marko is in his first season as an assistant coach on the Youngstown State baseball coaching staff in 2026. Marko, a native of McKees Rocks, Pa., most recently served as an assistant coach at NAIA Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Fla., during the 2025 season. Serving as the team’s hitting coach, Marko helped guide the Gyrenes to 30 total wins and an at-large bid in the NAIA National Tournament. Ave Maria posted its fourth winning season in school history while playing the 12th toughest schedule in the NAIA in 2025. Marko coached Ave Maria’s hitters to a .277 team batting average, a .431 slugging percentage, 55 home runs, 88 doubles, 17 triples, 334 RBIs, 516 hits, 382 runs, 803 total bases, 246 walks and 109 stolen bases. Prior to his time at Ave Maria, Marko worked as a hitting trainer at Driveline Baseball in Seattle, Wash. He also served as an assistant coach in the independent professional ranks, coaching with the Steel City Slammin' Sammies, who were created for the COVID-season of 2020. In the travel baseball ranks, Marko served as the Director of Hitting at Diesel Sports Complex and was the manager of the 17/18u team for Steel City Select. Marko played four seasons of collegiate baseball at Bethany College, an NCAA Division III member in West Virginia. He graduated from Bethany with a bachelor's degree in business administration and management in 2019 before earning his MBA from Wheeling University in 2021.