Late Lead Diminished as Kent State Loses in the Ninth Again

Sunday, May 11

Muncie, IN

1:00 PM

Kent State University

30-20, 0

Ball State University

35-16, 0

KENTST

Ball State

Photo by: David Dermer

Late Lead Diminished as Kent State Loses in the Ninth Again

5/11/2014 7:20:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MUNCIE, Ind. – It felt like déjå vu at Ball Diamond on Sunday afternoon, as Kent State was unable to hold its lead in the 9^th and Ball State walked off to win in back-to-back games, this time taking a 9-8 victory.

The Golden Flashes fall to 30-20 on the season and 14-10 in the conference while Ball State remains the Mid-American Conference leader at 19-4 and 35-16 overall. Both teams plus Central Michigan and Miami have clinched a spot in the MAC Tournament.

Ball State grabbed an early 1-0 lead but Kent State responded in the 2nd and 3rd. A double play ball with bases loaded in the 2^nd plated a run, but it would be the only tally in the inning despite three runners on for Kent State with no outs. In the 3^rd, the Flashes scored two on a Zarley Zalewski single and sacrifice fly by Tommy Monnot, but the Cardinals tied the game with two of their own in the bottom of the frame.

The game remained knotted at three until the boys from Canton GlenOak showed some power when Tommy Monnot hit a solo homerun in the 5^th and T.J. Sutton followed with a solo shot of his own in the 7^th. A Ball State error later in the 7^th gave Kent State a 6-3 advantage.

However, the contest was far from over as the Cardinals again matched the Flashes with two runs in the 7^th. Kent State broke away again with a two-run 9^th on two wild pitches to lead 8-5 with three outs left in the game.

But, in similar fashion to Saturday, Ball State rallied back, scoring three runs on base hits to walk off in their final home game of the season.

Brian Clark pitched well in the start, going six innings with five hits, three runs, one walk and six strikeouts. Eric Dorsch suffered the loss after putting the winning runners on base in the 9th. John Fasola was a bright spot in the game. He entered with a runner on second and one out and threw just four pitches to get out of the jam. He ended the day after 1.2 shutout innings with one hit, no walks and a strikeout.

Offensively, Sutton went 3-for-4 on the day to finish the series batting .500. He scored three of the Flashes' runs and had a RBI. Monnot went 2-for-4 behind him in the order with a team-high two RBI.

Kent State will travel to Pittsburgh for a 6:00pm matchup with the Panthers on Tuesday night.