Kent State Dodges Buffalo, Rain For 5-3 Win
5/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
KENT, Ohio - Kent State trailed 3-2 after five innings, but for the third-straight conference game, the Golden Flashes rallied in the late innings.
With the game tied at three in the bottom of the eighth, sophomore Jared Bartholomew led off the inning with a solo home run and the Golden Flashes added another insurance run to beat Buffalo 5-3.
"Bartholomew saw a changeup up in the zone on two strikes. He fouled a couple of pitches off and saw a changeup and got all of it against the wind. The wind was blowing out to left and he hit it out to right," said Kent State Head Coach Scott Stricklin.
Kent State improves to 27-17 on the year and 10-6 in Mid-American Conference play, while Buffalo falls to 13-30 and 6-12 in conference play.
Bartholomew led the Golden Flashes offensively, going 2-for-4 from the plate with two runs scored and the game-winning RBI. Junior Chris Tremblay and senior Doug Sanders both were 2-for-4 from the plate with one run scored.
Sophomore Jon Pokorny threw the final 3.2 innings of the ballgame, relieving sophomore starter Brad Stillings. Pokorny entered in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded and one out and got the Bulls to strikeout and fly out to end the inning.
"I thought that Brad threw well if not great. If you ask him, he is probably is not happy, but he kept us in the game and gave us a chance, which is what you have to do on Friday. Giving the ball to Pokorny in that [bases loaded] situation, when you look at his last two outings, he did that too. He was really good and you cannot say enough about him coming in the bases-loaded situation, down one, and he got a strikeout and a pop out," said Stricklin.
Buffalo jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, but Kent State would tie the ballgame in the bottom of the inning. Tremblay led off the home half with a double and advanced to third on a single by Sanders. After Sanders advanced to second on a passed ball, the Golden Flashes tied the ballgame on two straight RBI groundouts.
The Bulls retook the lead 3-2 after four and looked as if they might blow the game wide open in the top of the sixth with the bases loaded and one out. However, Pokorny relieved Stillings and only used eight pitches to record a strikeout and fly out to end the inning. KSU got Stillings off the hook with a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game.
Kent State took the lead for good in the bottom of the eighth. Bartholomew began the inning with a home run to right center. Freshman Ben Klafczynski followed with a double. The Bulls looked as if they might escape without anymore damage after recording two more outs and Klafczynski on third, but sophomore Cory Hindel laid a perfect drag bunt down the left field line to score the runner from third.
Pokorny was dominating in the ninth to close out the ballgame, retiring the side in only six pitches.
Kent State and Buffalo face-off in game two of the series tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 1 pm.
