Baseball Drops Twin Bill at No. 21 Baylor in Extra Innings

Saturday, February 21

Waco, TX

2:00 PM

Kent State University

2-3

Baylor University

4-2

Kent State

Baylor

Photo by: David Dermer

Baseball Drops Twin Bill at No. 21 Baylor in Extra Innings

2/21/2015 10:09:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

WACO, Texas – Kent State (2-4) looked to grab the series win over No. 21 Baylor (5-2) in the rubber match game two of a doubleheader on Saturday, but fell just short in the 10^th inning as the Bears were able to take both games of the twin bill 6-1 and 4-3.

The Golden Flashes had some adversity to face on the day as they had nine players, including many regular starters, go down with an illness and were unavailable to play.

In the early game, the Bears opened up the scoring in the 2^nd with a run then added three more in the 4^th to get ahead 4-0. Kent State's sole run came in the 6^th when Curtis Olvey singled, advanced on a single by Conner Simonetti, and then Jacob Neuschaefer hit Olvey home on another single.

That was as close as the Golden Flashes would get as the Bears plated two more runs in the 7^th to make it a 6-1 game one final.

Jared Skolnicki had another good start on the mound with six hits, four runs (three earned), no walks and four strikeouts in six innings. In his Kent State debut, Chris Martin tossed two innings with two hits, two runs and two walks.

Sawyer Polen and Zarley Zalewski had a good offensive output in game one with three hits each.

In game two, Baylor was able to get in front in the 2^nd on a two-out walk, stolen base and RBI single to center. Another run did not come across until the 4^th on a series of singles.

The Kent State bats came through in the 7^th as they scored two runs to tie the game. It started with two fielder's choices by Zalewski and Tommy Monnot that loaded the bases for Curtis Olvey to bat them both in on a base hit.

The Flashes looked like they would win the series in the top of the 10^th after Polen scored after he reached and came around on a series of errors. But, the Bears answered back with two runs in the bottom of the inning on two outs on a double, hit by pitch and a walk-off single to seal the 4-3 win.

Eric Lauer went 3.1 innings in the second game for his first start this season. He allowed four hits and two runs while walking one and striking out three. John Birkbeck and Zach Spangler followed with a combined 4.1 scoreless frames. Eli Kraus pitched 1.1 innings in his Kent State debut with no hits, walks or runs and two strikeouts. Josh Pierce suffered the loss, allowing the two hits and two runs in the 10^th.

The Golden Flashes' six hits were spread out in the rubber match with no one grabbing more than one and no extra-base hits in the contest. Olvey led the team with two RBI.

Kent State travels to compete in the Coastal Carolina tournament next weekend where they will face West Virginia, Illinois and host Coastal Carolina in a three-game set.