Hampton's Marshalwitz brothers enjoy special season at Youngstown State

Hampton graduates Casey and Cam Marshalwitz have played baseball for most of their lives, but they’ve never had a season like this one.

For the first time, the brothers were full-time teammates, sharing the field at Division I Youngstown State.

“It was fun,” said Casey, a senior relief pitcher at YSU. “It was a pretty cool experience that not all brothers get to do and we were lucky enough to do it.”

The highlight was a late-season 9-8 victory over first-place Wright State on May 20 on Youngstown State’s senior day. Cam, a freshman, pitched seven innings and recorded the win, while Casey earned the save.

“It was unbelievable,” YSU coach Dan Bertolini said. “They book-ended the game for us, and that’s pretty special.”

The brothers also combined for an 8-5 victory over Akron on April 25, with Cam earning his first collegiate win, in relief, and Casey recording the save. They pitched together for the first time in a 10-5 loss to Illinois on Feb. 18, combining to get the final five outs.

The former Talbots played together at Hampton in 2019, when Casey was a high school senior and Cam was a freshman. But Cam dressed for mainly JV and never pitched for the varsity squad.

After graduating from Hampton in 2022, Cam, 19, committed to Youngstown State as a preferred walk-on and joined his older brother at the Horizon League school.

While Casey, 22, had established himself as a high-leverage reliever for the Penguins, Cam’s role this season was uncertain. But a rash of early season injuries on the pitching staff increased Cam’s role, eventually turning into a spot in the rotation.

“I walked on, so I didn’t really expect to get much (playing time),” Cam said. “We had a lot of pitching to begin with. A bunch of guys started getting hurt. From there on out, I started picking it up and I started seeing the field more.”

Cam, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound left-hander, finished 3-2 with a 7.14 ERA in 46.2 innings, which ranked fourth on the team. He started eight games, appearing in 17, with 24 Ks and 33 walks.

“It went pretty good,” the younger Marshalwitz said. “I’m not going to lie. For a freshman, I think I had a really good year.”

Casey also put together a solid year after a midseason rough patch. The 6-2, 200-pound right-hander recorded a team-best six saves in 30 appearances. He posted an 8.58 ERA in 28.1 innings with 30 strikeouts and 30 walks.

He earned the save in a 7-5 victory at Baylor on March 3 and fanned six in 2.1 hitless innings in a 9-4 victory at Pitt on April 10. In late April, he earned three saves in a six-day span for the Penguins (19-36, 13-16), whose season ended with a 12-3 loss to No. 5 seed Milwaukee on May 24 in the first round of the Horizon League tournament.

“He was kind of a tale of two seasons, really,” Bertolini said of the elder Marshalwitz. “He threw exceptional and then kind of hit a tough spell in the middle of the year. When we started playing well, he really started pitching well.”

Casey still has one remaining year of eligibility, so the Marshalwitz brothers will be teammates again in 2024. Casey said he was proud of the way his younger brother pitched in his first collegiate season.

“I think he performed way above his pay grade, you could say,” Casey said. “He did very well coming in with much better competition and stepping up and doing what they asked when they needed him.”

Youngstown State has three pairs of brothers on the roster, and Bertolini said it makes for an interesting dynamic. He said the Marshalwitz brothers have contrasting demeanors on the mound.

“They are a little different,” Bertolini said. “Cam is kind of calm, mild. You don’t get a lot of emotion from him. Casey is going to be a little bit more emotional, like a back-end reliever.”