Flashes Open Series at FIU With 13-5 Victory

Friday, February 24

Miami, FL

7:00 PM

Kent State University

4-0

Florida International University

1-3

Kent State

FIU

Photo by: David Dermer

Flashes Open Series at FIU With 13-5 Victory

2/24/2017 10:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MIAMI, Fla. – The Kent State offense stayed formidable on Friday as the Golden Flashes (4-0) opened up a four-game series at Florida International (1-3) with a 13-5 victory.

The bats wasted no time getting started with a three-run 1st inning. Reilly Hawkins was walked to start the game and scored during the next at-bat when Mason Mamarella singled and advanced on an error. Dylan Rosa then rocketed a pitch over the wall in left field, making it a 3-0 start.

The Panthers would answer with a run in the bottom of the inning on a single, two walks and hit batter, but another error kept the Flashes up by three in the top of the 2nd as Tim DalPorto, Josh Hollander and Mamarella all singled to bring home a run.

FIU would score another in the bottom of the 2nd, but another three-run frame kept Kent State out of harm's way. The 3rd started with a triple by Rosa. He scored easily on a Pete Schuler single. After Brad Hamilton was hit by a pitch, DalPorto drove in Schuler on another base hit. A sacrifice fly by Hollander then made it a 7-2 contest.

The Panthers hit a two-run homerun in the bottom of the 3rd and then scored two more runs in the 4th on a trio of singles before being shut down for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, Kent State continued to produce. Another three-run inning came in the 5^th while they added two runs in the 7th and their final run of the night in the 8^th.

An error allowed Dom Iero to reach to start the 5^th. Hamilton then doubled before DalPorto earned two RBI on his third hit of the night. A wild pitch brought him home later on, bringing the score to 10-5.

The 7^th inning began with a loud at-bat as Hamilton hit one out to left center. After bases became loaded, Luke Burch earned a full-count walk for an easy RBI. The final run of the game came when Iero singled, Hamilton walked and DalPorto singled to load the bases. Iero scored on a ground ball in the next at-bat, putting the final score at 13-5.

The Flashes collected nine or more hits once again, as they have done every game this season, with a total of 16, including four for extra bases. DalPorto continued to hit at a blistering pace this season, going 4-for-5 on the night with three RBI. Rosa contributed with three hits while Mamarella, Iero and Hamilton all finished with two each.

Eli Kraus earned his second win of the season by going 6.1 innings in the start. He gave up four earned runs on six hits and three walks while striking out three. Robert Zeigler finished the final 2.2 innings of the game with three hits, two walks and one strikeout.

The teams will play two games on Saturday with the first starting at 3 p.m. The second game will be a shortened seven innings and start 30 minutes after the completion of the first.