Kent State Squares Off With Penn State In Midweek Contest
3/30/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
KENT STATE GOLDEN FLASHES (12-10, 2-1 MAC)
VS.
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (15-7, 0-0 BIG TEN)
Wednesday, March 30 • 3 p.m.
OLGA A. MURAL FIELD AT SCHOONOVER STADIUM • KENT, OHIO
PROBABLE PITCHING STARTERS
Wednesday, March 30
Kent State: #32 Ryan Mace (Jr., RHP, Tallmadge, Ohio) 2-1, 2.08 ERA, 13 SO, 8 BB, 3 GS, 21.2 IP
Penn State: TBD
THE STORYLINES
• The Kent State baseball team hosts its first midweek game of the 2011 season Wednesday (March 30), taking on Penn State in a non-conference bout scheduled for 3 p.m. at Olga A. Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium. The Golden Flashes are 2-1 on the season in midweek games, defeating Pittsburgh, 10-7, on March 16, falling to Louisville, 11-2, on March 22 and rolling past Xavier, 22-2, on March 23. All three of those contests came on the road.
• Kent State enters Wednesday's contest having won four of its last six games. The Golden Flashes rebounded from a 11-2 loss at Louisville last Tuesday (March 22) by coming out the following day and routing host Xavier, 22-2. Kent State won its first Mid-American Conference and home series of the year over the weekend, taking two of three contests from Toledo.
• The Kent State baseball team received national and conference awards for its performances on the diamond in the last week.
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Redshirt sophomore left-handed starting pitcher Andrew Chafin (Wakeman, Ohio) was named one of Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Louisville Slugger National Players of the week in addition to garnering Mid-American Conference East Division Pitcher of the Week recognition for the second time this season today (March 28). Junior catcher David Lyon (Emporium, Pa.) earned MAC East Division Player of the Week honors to help the Flashes complete a weekly conference awards sweep for the second time in 2011.
Chafin hurled a complete-game four-hit shutout and tallied a career-high 15 strikeouts with no walks as Kent State won its Mid-American Conference opening game and 2011 home opener, 1-0, Friday (March 25). He hurled 113 pitches with a whopping 88 going for strikes, sat down the side in six innings – including striking out six straight between the seventh and ninth frames – in addition to issuing 22 first-pitch strikes. The contest marked Kent State's first shutout since Brad Stillings tossed a no-hitter on April 10, 2009, at Toledo. Chafin improved his season record to 3-1 and has fired 42 strikeouts to just eight walks and has given up only two earned runs on 18 hits in 33.2 innings of work.
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Lyon finished a spectacular three-game stretch in grand fashion in Kent State's 8-2 triumph over Toledo on Sunday (March 27), going 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a run scored – including a three-run home run over the right field wall in the bottom of the second. Lyon finished the series batting a whopping .778 with seven hits – including two doubles and a homer – with six RBIs and a run scored. He posted a slugging percentage of 1.333 and an on-base percentage of .818. Lyon is batting .317 on the season with 26 hits – including five doubles, three triples and two round trippers – and 21 RBIs.
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PENN STATE SERIES HISTORY
Penn State leads the all-time series against Kent State, 4-3. The two squads faced off four times last year and split the season series. The Nittany Lions edged the Golden Flashes, 10-8, March 31, 2010, in the most recent meeting.
SCOUTING PENN STATE
The Nittany Lions are off to a strong start in 2011 and have won 12 of their last 16 games -- including three straight.
Head Coach: Robbie Wine is in his sixth year at the helm at Penn State. All two-time All-America catcher at Oklahoma State, Wine played for the Houston Astros for parts of the 1986 and 1987 seasons.
Pitcher to Watch: Sophomore right-handed starter Steven Hill (Colleyville, Texas) is 3-1 in six starts, striking out 34 while issuing just four walks in 42.0 innings of work. Â
Hitter to Watch: Junior outfielder Sean Deegan (Readington, N.J.) leads the Nittany Lions with a .362 batting average and 34 hits -- including a team-high four triples.
WHAT'S NEXT
Kent State travels to Kalamazoo, Mich., this weekend (April 1-3) for its first MAC road series of 2011, taking on Western Michigan.
