Kent State Holds on for 5-4 Win

Saturday, March 1

Murfreesboro, TN

2:00 PM

Kent State University

6-3

Middle Tennessee State University

4-5

Kent State

Middle Tennessee

3/1/2014 6:58:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Kent State (6-3) evaded a Middle Tennessee (4-5) comeback on Saturday afternoon (Mar. 1) en route to a 5-4 victory.

The Blue Raiders got on the board first on a solo homerun in the 2^nd inning, but the Golden Flashes responded with a three-run 4^th inning to take the lead. In the frame, Sawyer Polen led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a single by Jon Wilson, then scored on a ground out by Alex Miklos. Cody Koch hit a RBI base hit later to score Wilson before Zarley Zalewski, who reached on a single, came home on a wild pitch.

Kent State added two more runs on in the next inning in a similar fashion. Conner Simonetti led off with a walk, advanced on a Wilson single, then plated a run on a Miklos single. Wilson scored the second run of the inning on a Zalewski out, making it a 5-1 game.

Middle Tennessee tacked on an unearned run in the bottom of the 5^th before making things interesting in the 8^th. The Blue Raiders scored two on walks and singles and had the tying runner at second base, but the Golden Flashes got out of the jam to secure the win.

Freshman Eric Lauer (3-0) continued on his phenomenal pace by earning his third win in as many appearances this season. He went five innings in the start with five hits, one earned run, one walk and four strikeouts. John Fasola and Eric Dorsch each threw two innings of relief while each allowing a run. Dorsch earned the save, his second this year.

Wilson had a strong day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a stolen base and two runs scored. He was the only Golden Flash with a multi-hit game. Miklos picked up two of the team's RBI.

The rubber-match between Kent State and Middle Tennessee is set for Sunday (Mar. 2) at 1:00pm EST. The game time was moved an hour earlier due to possible inclement weather in Ohio affecting Kent State's travel plans.