Flashes to Open NCAA Regional vs. Missouri Friday
5/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
After winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament (May 23-26) with a perfect 4-0 mark, the Kent State University baseball team will compete in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in school history (June 1-4) at Taylor Stadium in Columbia, Missouri. The 2007 MAC East Division champions will open Regional play against the University of Missouri (40-16) Friday at 6:30 CST. The Golden Flashes (33-24) have won eight straight and 16 of their last 17 games. Miami (Fla.) will take on Louisville in the other half of the Columbia Regional bracket on Friday.
Peaking at the Right Time
Along with posting a 16-1 record in their last 17 games, the Golden Flashes have put up their best numbers of the year in all facets of the game during the current stretch. KSU is hitting .330 over its last 17 games, while averaging one home run per game. The pitching staff boasts a 2.51 ERA since April 27 and is holding opponents to a .216 batting average. The Golden Flases are 18-of-20 on stolen base attempts in their last 17 games and carry a .982 fielding percentage.
During The Stretch: Reid Lamport
and Jason Seelman have not allowed a run in a combined 11 relief appearances. Andrew Davis and Jason Patton are both hitting over .400. Greg Rohan has belted six homers and Chris Tremblay has scored 20 runs.
Live Audio and Live Stats
All of Kent State's NCAA Tournament games can be heard live on the web at www.kentstatesports.com via the K-Zone with play-by-play announcer Eric Hills. Broadcasts begin 15 minutes before each game. Live stats for all tournament games can be viewed on www.mutigers.com.
Up Next
Winners of the 16 NCAA Regional brackets will be paired to compete in the Super Regional round next week (June 8-11) in a best-of-three-game series. The eight winners of the Super Regional round will advance to play in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. June 15-24.
NCAA Regional History
The Golden Flashes will be competing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in seven years, the seventh time since 1992 and eighth overall.
Scott Stricklin will be making his first appearance as a head coach, but is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament. As a player at Kent State, Stricklin competed in the Tallahasse (Fla.) Regional in 1992 and the Baton Rouge (La.) Regional in 1993. The Flashes have made four NCAA appearances during Associate Head Coach Mike Birkbeck's tenure on staff.
Although Kent State has never advanced past the Regional round, the Golden Flashes have had success against host schools. Most recently, KSU defeated Notre Dame 2-1 in South Bend, Ind. in 2004. The Flashes have also knocked off Ohio State in Columbus (2001) and LSU in Baton Rouge (1993). The six members of the Golden Flash senior class were all a part of the Kent State team that competed in 2004. Kent, Ohio played host to KSU's first NCAA postseason appearance in 1964.
• The last Mid-American Conference team to win a Regional was Eastern Michigan in 1976.
Davis Chasing History
Andrew Davis broke Kent State's career hit record and RBI record in the same game on May 18 vs. Buffalo. To date, Davis has piled up 312 career hits and 185 RBI. The senior infielder now sits in third place among the MAC's career hit leaders, just four shy of Miami's Clark Mace (1998-01) at 316. Mace held the hit record for six seasons but was recently passed by Northern Illinois' Scott Simon, who finished his career this past weekend with 318 hits.
Starting Pitchers
Redshirt sophomore Chris Carpenter will look to improve to 5-0 on the year for the Flashes on Friday. The hard-throwing right-hander was recently projected as a 2007 first round draft pick by Baseball America magazine. In his last five appearances, Carpenter is 3-0 with 14 strikeouts and has allowed 16 hits in 22.2 innings pitched. He has made five starts and six relief appearances on the season, holding opponents to a .198 batting average.
Missouri will send sophomore right-hander
Aaron Crow (8-3, 3.17) to the hill. Crow leads the Tigers in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts. He will be making his 17th start of the year. In his most recent start, Crow suffered a loss vs. Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament. He allowed eight earned runs on 10 hits in 5.0 innings with six strikeouts.
Winning The Close Ones
Kent State is coming off three straight one-run victories in the MAC Tournament. The Golden Flashes went 7-0 in one-run games in the month of May and have won each of their last eight games that have been decided by one run. KSU played in three consecutive 11-innng games from May 13-18 and won all three. The Flashes are 6-2 in extra inning games and have outscored opponents 15-3 in extra frames.
Finishing Strong
Pitching depth has historically played a key role in postseason play and this season the Golden Flashes have had pleny of it. KSU has posted a 12-3 record in its final game of a weekend series or tournament this season. The Flashes' last week-ending setback came at Central Michigan on Apr. 1.
Davis Winning and Saving Games Down the Stretch
Senior stopper Ryan Davis earned his sixth victory of the year in the MAC championship game on May 26. Since April 17, Davis has gone 4-0 with four saves in 10 appearances with an ERA of 0.75. The left-hander leads the Golden Flashes with eight saves and sits in second place on Kent State's career save list with 24. He trails Dan Adams, who set the record in 2000 with 29 career saves.
Patton Pounding Opposing Pitchers Sophomore right fielder
Scouting Missouri The Tigers have won a school record 40 games this season and finished second in the Big 12 standings. Missouri recently finished 1-2 at the Big 12 championships after winnng its final five games of the regular season. MU is ranked 14th in the latest Baseball America Top 25. Collegiate Baseball Newspapers ranks the Tigers 18th in the nation.
Tim Jamieson recently earned co-Big 12 Coach of the Year honors and six players claimed spots on the All-Big 12 Team. Starting pitcher Aaron Crow and junior clenup hitter Jacob Priday were both first team selections. Priday (.299) leads the team in home runs (10), RBI (55) and slugging (.549).
Junior center fielder and leadoff hitter
Mach is batting .306 on the year with 33 runs scored. Zagone is 7-2 in 97 innings pitched and Gibson owns a team high seven saves.
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