Baseball Takes Two on Opening Day of Coca-Cola Classic

Friday, February 21

Rock Hill, SC

4:00 PM

Kent State University

3-2

Winthrop University

2-2

Kent State

Winthrop

Photo by: David Dermer

Baseball Takes Two on Opening Day of Coca-Cola Classic

2/21/2014 7:57:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Kent State (3-2) swept its doubleheader to begin the Coca-Cola Classic on Friday (Feb. 21) behind steady pitching performances and a total of 26 hits. The team blanked Coppin State (0-1) 5-0 then followed with an 8-5 victory over host Winthrop (2-2).

Kent State gained an early lead in the first contest when the second batter of the game, T.J. Sutton, doubled to center and came in to score two batters later on a single by Zarley Zalewski.

They added another run the very next inning when Cody Koch started off the frame with a double, advanced on a foul out and came home on a ground out.

The Golden Flashes tacked on more tallies in the 6^th when Koch again led off the inning with a hit before Justin Wagler doubled him across the plate. Wagler came home himself shortly after on a throwing error after a stolen base. Another RBI double by Sawyer Polen made it a 5-0 game after six.

The game was dominated by a brilliant pitching performance from the two Johns: Birkbeck and Fasola. Birkbeck picked up his first win of the season after going five innings in the start with three hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Fasola followed to get the save while allowing just one hit and striking out five through four innings. The duo did not allow an extra base hit in the contest.

"Overall, it was a good win over Coppin State," said Head Coach Jeff Duncan. "We were hoping for a little more offensively. We left a lot of runners on. We could have done a better job with that but we still had 11 hits and scored five runs."

In game two against Winthrop, Kent State started out in a similar fashion, plating one run in the first on a single by Alex Miklos and a RBI base hit by Koch.

The Golden Flashes mirrored game one again in the next inning, scoring one run on base hits by T.J. Sutton and Polen.

Kent State broke out for three runs in the 4^th. Zach Beckner picked up his first career hit with a base knock up the middle to start things off. Jake Neuschaefer followed with a single of his own. Both came around later when Wagler singled and a throwing error allowed the runs to come home. Miklos then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to earn a RBI, bringing home Polen who had singled earlier in the frame.

Winthrop broke through the day's shutout with a run in the bottom of the 4^th after a walk, double and ground out, but starter Brian Clark worked his way out of the inning, inducing a fielder's choice that got an out at home and closing the door on the inning on a three-pitch strikeout.

The Eagles were able to tie the game at five with four runs in the 5^th on a series of three singles, two errors and a fielder's choice. But Clark was able to stop the damage there by picking off a runner and striking out the final batter of the inning.

The Golden Flashes wasted no time getting the lead back in the 6^th as Neuschaefer was hit by a pitch, stole second and reached third on a balk. He then came around to score when Wagler reached on an infield error.

They added an insurance runs in the 8^th and 9^th and Eric Dorsch closed the game out in the bottom of the same two innings to complete the win.

Clark (1-1) earned his first win of the season, going five innings with six hits, three earned runs, one walk and four strikeouts. Josh Pierce threw two innings with two hits and one strikeout. Dorsch did not allow a hit and struck out two en route to posting his first save of the year.

"In the second game we came out really well," Duncan said. "We showed unbelievable resiliency. Our at-bats against Winthrop were really good and we battled and had a good approach all day."

On the day, Koch led offensively with five hits in eight at bats with one double and one RBI. Neuschaefer went 3-for-5 and Miklos hit an even .500 in eight at-bats. The team combined for ten stolen bases through two games, including a 4-for-4 day on the base paths for Wagler, who also led the team with three RBI.

Kent State continues play in the Coca-Cola Classic when they face Winthrop on Saturday (Feb. 22) at 4:00pm.