Baseball Opens MAC Play at Northern Illinois This Weekend
3/21/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Kent State vs Northern Illinois Game Notes (pdf)
The Golden Flashes (6-11) take to the road for spring break, beginning with the opening Mid-American Conference weekend series against Northern Illinois (4-15) Friday through Sunday.
PROBABLE PITCHING STARTERS
Friday, March 22
Kent State: #25 RHP Taylor Williams (3-1, 2.25 ERA, 28 SO, 5 BB, 5 GS, 36.0 IP)
NIU: #29 LHP Jordan Ruckman (0-3, 3.99 ERA, 9 SO, 10 BB, 5 GS, 29.1 IP)
Saturday, March 23
Kent State: #31 RHP Tyler Skulina (0-2, 6.83 ERA, 23 SO, 14 BB, 5 GS, 28.0 IP)
NIU: #18 RHP Eli Anderson (1-3, 4.15 ERA, 16 SO, 11 BB, 5 GS, 30.1 IP)
Sunday, March 24
Kent State: #22 RHP Casey Wilson (1-2, 5.46 ERA, 12 SO, 14 BB, 5 GS, 28.0 IP)
NIU: #7 RHP Alex Klonowski (2-3, 3.50 ERA, 21 SO, 14 BB, 5 GS, 36.0 IP)
KENT STATE - NIU HISTORY
• Kent State is 25-16-1 all-time against Northern Illinois.
• The Golden Flashes swept the Huskies at Schoonover Stadium last season.
• Kent State has won nine of the last ten meetings.
• NIU last won when they beat Kent State 11-6 and then 3-2 to take the series meeting in 2008.
TOUGH START NOT A WORRY
• The Golden Flashes will enter MAC play with a record below .500 for the 13th time in the last 17th seasons.
• In nine of the previous 12 seasons that they have been below .500 entering conference play, Kent State has won a championship.
KINGS OF THE CONFERENCE
• Kent State has won five of the last ten MAC Championships and six of the last ten Tournament Championship, including the last four in a row.
• They have also had five conference pitchers or players of the year spanning the last decade, including current Golden Flash George Roberts as Player of the Year in 2012.
WEEKEND RECAP: AT MEMPHIS
• Kent State picked up two out of three games to win their second consecutive series of the season.
• They lost the opening game 12-7 as they gave Memphis too many opportunites via errors and pitching mistakes and weren't able to recover.
• On Saturday, the Memphis starter had a perfect game into the sixth inning, until he issued a walk and Alex Miklos hit a homerun to grab the 2-1 that Kent State never looked back from, as they took the game 9-1.
• Kent State took the rubber match on Sunday in a 4-2 extra-innings victory. The game remained notched in a 2-2 tie after three innings. Both teams had ample scoring opportunites late in the game, but were unable to produce a run. Memphis hit a batter with bases loaded in the tenth and then the Golden Flashes hit a RBI base hit to take the 4-2 lead on their way to the victory.
