Rout of Rockets Gets Weekend Off Right for KSU
4/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
KENT - The Toledo Rockets found themselves standing in the middle of a set of train tracks Friday night at Schoonover Stadium, and the runaway freight train that is currently the Kent State offense charged right through.
After scoring nine runs against Northern Illinois last Sunday, 15 against Wooster Tuesday and 18 versus Duquesne on Wednesday, skeptical fans wondered if the offensive surge would carry over to MAC play this weekend.
The skeptics were silenced.
Rolling up four multi-run innings, the Flashes (14-15; 2-5) cruised to a 14-5 win over Toledo. Anthony Gallas was a one-man wrecking crew for the winners as he became the second KSU starter to bang out five hits in as many games. Doug Sanders accomplshed the feat Wednesday against the Dukes. It hadn't happened since 2003.
"Well obviously we continued to swing the bats well," head coach Scott Stricklin said. "Anthony Gallas had a huge day for us and we really had solid at-bats today."
Starting pitcher Brad Stillings earned his first win of the year, pitching shutout baseball into the sixth. He tossed seven innings and allowed just two earned runs on a home run off the bat of Josh Colliver. Stillings had six strikeouts on the night, and 65 of his 105 pitches were for strikes.
"It was so big," Stricklin said of his pitcher. "Not just for Brad himself but for our team. We really needed a good start from him and he has definitely gone out and set the tone for the weekend."
Gallas' first-inning solo shot jump-started a KSU offense which has now produced 56 runs in the last 33 innings of play. RBIs from Doug Sanders and Greg Rohan followed in the third inning as Kent raced to a 3-0 lead. In the top of the fourth, Jared Bartholomew blasted a solo home run to right center field which finally came to rest on the infield of one of the adjacent Allerton intramural fields - easily 470 feet away.
Kent State then put the game away with back-to-back three-run innings in the fifth and sixth. Gallas roped his third RBI hit of the night and then Greg Rohan hit a monstrous homer himself to make it 7-0. In the sixth, Ben Klafczynski corked an opposite field two-run shot and Gallas lined another run-scoring single to left and the Flashes suddenly had 10 runs on the board.
Leading 10-1, Stillings yielded the homer to Colliver but eventually got through seven. With a seven-run cushion, the Flashes' offense struck for four more in the last of the eighth. Klafczynski walked, Chris Tremblay singled and Sanders walked to load the bases. Gallas summoned yet another RBI single and the Rohan smashed a two-run double. Pinch-hitter Jason Patton skied a sac fly to right for the final Flashes run.
Kent State sends Chris Carpenter to the hill Saturday afternoon as the good guys seek their third straight MAC win and fourth straight overall. Carpenter struck out 11 NIU Huskies last Saturday in a no-decision. First pitch is 1 p.m.
