Flashes to Battle with Wooster Wednesday
4/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Looking for its fifth win in six games, the Kent State University baseball team (15-20) hosts the College of Wooster (27-1) Wednesday at 4p.m. After suffering their first loss of the year this past weekend, the No. 1 ranked (Division III) Fighting Scots will visit Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium.
SERIES HISTORY:
Wooster leads the all-time series with the Golden Flashes 22-18, but Kent State has won five of the last six meetings. The teams first met in 1916 and played twice a year from 1932-1942. Last season, KSU defeated the Fighting Scots 12-1 at Schoonover Stadium behind an eight-run third inning. Andrew Davis, Jason Patton and Brad Winter each smacked a pair of hits. Steven Davis allowed just one run over six innings and fanned six for his second win of the year. Dominique Roders tossed two scoreless innings of relief. Jake Sankal went 3-for-3 for the Scots. Wooster last defeated Kent State in April of 2003.
STARTING PITCHERS:
Sophomore left-hander Alan Morrison (1-0, 6.10) will make his fifth start of the season for the Golden Flashes. Morrison carries a 7-0 career record. In his last home start, he hurled five innings against Pittsburgh (Mar. 28), allowing just one hit. Morrison struck out three Panther hitters and did not give up a run in a no decision.
Junior southpaw Adam Samson will make his seventh start of the season for Wooster. Samson enters the contest with a perfect 5-0 mark and has a 1.66 ERA in 38.0 innings. Last week he tossed five innings of one-hit ball and fanned six in a victory over Case Western Reserve.
FLASHES AT HOME: The Golden Flashes are 7-4 at Olga Mural Field this season and 4-1 against non-conference opponents at home. In 11 home games, Andrew Davis is hitting .350 with four doubles, three home runs, and 11 RBI. Greg Rohan is batting .306 with three doubles and a homer at Schoonover Stadium. Reid Lamport, Jason Seelman and Robert Sabo have logged at least seven innings of relief at home and are yet to allow an earned run.
A LOOK AT WOOSTER:
In his 26th season, Head Coach Tim Pettorini carries a career record of 826-304-6 (.730). He has taken the Scots to the NCAA Tournamnet 16 times. Eight batters in the Wooster lineup are hitting above .300 and three are hitting 400 or better. Jake Sankal is an all-around offensive threat with a .778 slugging percentage and nine stolen bases. The Scots are batting .346 as a team and carry a 2.09 team ERA. Prior to Sunday, the Scots had won a school record 27 consecutive games.
QUICK FLASHES
• Anthony Gallas extended his hitting streak to 11 games in Tuesday's 3-1 win over Malone.
• Over his last 16.1 innings pitched, Robert Sabo has struck out 19 batters. Sabo improved to 2-0 on Tuesday, tossing three scoreless innings vs. Malone.
• The Golden Flashes scored a season 17 runs and belted a season-best 17 hits In Friday's win at Ball State. KSU hit .322 for the series and scored 36 runs over three games.
• Jason Seelman has not allowed a run in 9.1 innings of conference play. He has allowed just two earned runs in 21 total innings pitched and leads the team with a 0.86 ERA.
• Chris Carpenter earned his first win since 2005, after throwing 3.1 innings of relief Sunday at Ball State.
• Reid Lamport fanned five in three innings Sunday at Ball State. In five MAC appearances, Lamport has allowed just one run on seven hits over 12 innings. He has given up only 15 hits in 30.1 innings on the year.
• Evan Smith tossed six innings in a victory on Friday. Smith has thrown at least five innings in each of his seven starts and has allowed two runs or less in six of those starts. He carries a 2.14 ERA with a team high 42 innings pitched.
• Brad Winter smacked three hits in each of Kent State's two wins on the weekend.
• Jason Patton and Greg Rohan both homered in KSU victories on the weekend.
