Baseball Returns Home for Mid-Week Double Header Against Youngstown State
4/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Kent State vs Youngstown State Game Notes (pdf)
Kent State (19-19) will try to recover after being swept by Buffalo this past weekend as they host Youngstown State (12-28) in a Tuesday double header consisting of two seven-inning games beginning at 4:00pm.
KENT STATE - YOUNGSTOWN STATE HISTORY
• Kent State is 61-15-1 all-time versus Youngstown State.
• The Golden Flashes beat the Penguins 14-4 at home in 2012.
• Kent State has won nine of the last ten meetings.
• Youngstown State's last victory over Kent State came in a 14-9 home win in 2008.
PITCHING IMPROVEMENTS
• When comparing the Kent State pitching staff from the opening eight games of the season to the last eight games played, improvement is obvious.
• The pitching staff had a combined 7.85 ERA in the first eight games of the season with 45 strikeouts, 37 walks and 18 hit batters. Seven pitchers had an ERA over 10.00.
• In the last eight games, Kent State has a 2.07 combined ERA with 74 strikeouts, 25 walks and five hit batters. No one has a ERA over 5.00
• Defense has improved behind that pitching, as well.. The team committed 23 errors in the first eight games of the season and has only had eight in the last eight games.
THE ROBERTS REPORT
• Reigning MAC Player of the Year and pre-season All-American George Roberts is batting .353 with two doubles, one triple, one homerun and 11 RBI in 15 conference games.
• He has also walked 13 times to bump his MAC on-base percentage to .507. He also has four stolen bases.
• Defensively against MAC opponents, he has 58 putouts, 17 assists and a .987 fielding percentage.
• He is currently on a 13 game hit streak has reached base safely in 16 straight games.
WEEKEND RECAP: AT BUFFALO
• Kent State was swept in the key conference series for the first time since 2008.
• In the opening game on Saturday, Kent State could not hold on to a 5-1 lead after a grand slam by Evan Campbell, as Buffalo walked off on a ground ball to win 6-5.
• Game one on Sunday went back-and-forth until Buffalo broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth to go on and win the game 4-3..
• Buffalo completed the sweep in Sunday's second game, winning 3-2. Kent State's two runs came in the top of the ninth, but they could not muster enough to pull off the win.
• No Kent State starter allowed more than two earned runs with all going at least six innings. The Golden Flashes left 23 men on base in the three games, and in 31 at-bats with runners in scoring position, they batted just .194.
