The Youngstown State baseball team is scheduled to play 10, four-game Horizon League series beginning on March 5 as part of its 2021 schedule, head coach Dan Bertolini announced on Tuesday. The announcement coincides with the Horizon League's approval of conference schedules for all sports that will take place this spring.

 
As part of scheduling parameters set by the Horizon League due to COVID-19 precautions, YSU will not play any midweek games in 2021. Youngstown State will play home-and-home sets with conference newcomer Purdue Fort Wayne, Milwaukee, Wright State and UIC, and the Penguins will play Oakland and Northern Kentucky for one series apiece.
 
The standard schedule for conference weekends will be one game on Fridays, a doubleheader on Saturdays and another single game on Sundays. Scheduled single games will be nine innings, and doubleheaders will consist of a seven-inning game followed by a nine-inning contest. If game one of the doubleheader goes extra innings, then game two would be a seven-inning game.
 
The Penguins are also slated to play a four-game series at Troy and a three-game set at Nicholls State in addition to hosting St. Bonaventure at Eastwood Field in non-conference weekends. Those series bring the total number of games on the schedule to 50, and YSU is looking for an opponent to fill an open weekend on May 14-16.
 
Following the season-opening weekend at Troy on Feb. 19-21 and the series at Nicholls State on Feb. 26-28, YSU's Horizon League slate will begin at Purdue Fort Wayne on March 5-7. The Penguins will then play a four-game set at Wright State on March 12-14, and YSU will step out of conference play the following weekend as it hosts St. Bonaventure on March 19-20 in the first games of the campaign at Eastwood Field.
 
The Penguins will remain home the following two weekends as they'll get another look at Wright State on March 26-28 and host UIC on April 1-3. YSU will then have consecutive road weekends at Milwaukee on April 9-11 and Northern Kentucky on April 16-18, and it will host Oakland on April 23-25.
 
Youngstown State will begin the final month of the regular season in Chicago as part of a series at UIC from April 30-May 2, and YSU's final two Horizon League series will be at Eastwood Field. The Penguins will host Purdue Fort Wayne on May 7-9, and they'll conclude the regular season against Milwaukee on May 20-22.
 

All dates and opponents are subject to change, and game times will be announced soon. The Horizon League will announce details on the conference championship in the coming weeks.