Jackets Deal Flashes Loss in Season Opener
2/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
ATLANTA -- The Kent State baseball team fell to No. 19 Georgia Tech in the 2011 season opener Friday (Feb. 18), 6-3, at Russ Chandler Stadium.
GT (1-0, 0-0) junior starting right-handed pitcher Mark Pope worked 6.2 innings, struck out six and surrendered one earned run while helping limit the Golden Flashes (0-1, 0-0) to six hits.
Senior starting southpaw Kyle Hallock (Sandusky, Ohio) was charged with the pitching defeat for Kent State, allowing five earned runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings. He fanned three in the defeat.
The top three of the Yellow Jackets' batting order produced a combined eight hits, six runs and three RBIs, with freshman center fielder Kyle Wren going 3-for-4 with a double and a triple and junior second baseman Jacob Esch cracking two doubles and driving in a run.
Junior shortstop Jimmy Rider (Venetia, Pa.) and senior right fielder Ben Klafczynski (Granger Township, Ohio) each posted two hits apiece to lead Kent State's bats.
Wren and freshman shortstop Mott Hyde led off the bottom of the first with a double and a triple, respectively, and Esch singled home Hyde to give GT the early 2-0 advantage. The Yellow Jackets tacked on two more in the third as Wren smacked a triple to right center and scored on a single by Hyde. Freshman first baseman Daniel Palka singled through the right side and scored on a groundout RBI by freshman catcher Zane Evans.
The Flashes cut Georgia Tech's lead in half with two runs in the fifth. Redshirt junior left fielder Joe Koch (Youngstown, Ohio) got things started by reaching on catcher's interference. Freshman second baseman Derek Toadvine (Springfield, Ohio) put a single into left center to move Koch to second. Both advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch, allowing sophomore center fielder Evan Campbell (Beloit, Ohio) to place a sacrifice fly into right to give Koch the opportunity to tag up and score. Rider followed with a two-out single to left to score Toadvine to put Kent State within two.
The Jackets got a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Esch smacked a leadoff double to left center and then scored courtesy of a single to left by sophomore right fielder Brandon Thomas. GT made it a four-run game again in the next frame as Evans scored Esch, who had reached base on a double to right, with a base hit up the middle.
Kent State threatened to tie the ballgame in the eighth. Junior third baseman Travis Shaw (Washington Court House, Ohio) drew a leadoff walk, then advanced to second one out later on a passed ball and to third on a wild pitch. Junior catcher David Lyon (Emporium, Pa.) coaxed another walk and moved to second on a wild pitch, and Koch juiced the bases when he was issued a base on balls. A strikeout ended the threat, though.
Rider pulled the Flashes to within three in the top of the ninth after drawing a walk and scoring on an RBI groundout by Shaw, but that's as close as Kent State got.
Kent State looks to even the series Saturday (Feb. 19). The Flashes will send junior righty Ryan Mace (Tallmadge, Ohio) to the hill to start the game. Mace will oppose GT junior lefthander Jed Bradley. Action gets underway at 2 p.m.Â
