Kent State University
University of Toledo
Golden Flashes Begin Conference Play This Weekend at Toledo
3/19/2015 10:26:00 AM | Baseball
Kent State (8-7) will begin the challenge of grabbing its 13th Mid-American Conference regular season title and 6th in the last ten years when conference play begins this weekend at Toledo (6-14).
All three games will be played at Mercy Field, the home site of Lourdes University and Central Catholic High School at 525 S. Holland Sylvania Rd. Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. while Saturday and Sunday's games are set to begin at 1 p.m.
COVERAGE
• Live stats will be available for all three games at utrockets.com
• A live radio broadcast will be available for Friday and Sunday's games only at Golden Flashes iHeart Radio
PROBABLE PITCHING STARTERS
Friday, March 20
Kent State: #32 RHP Nick Jensen-Clagg (4-1, 2.45 ERA, 34 SO, 16 BB, 5 GS, 20.0 IP)
Toledo: #36 RHP Cameron Palmer (1-3, 2.70 ERA, 31 SO, 11 BB, 5 GS, 26.2 IP)
Saturday, March 21
Kent State: #10 LHP Eric Lauer (1-1, 1.17 ERA, 29 SO, 6 BB, 3 GS, 23.0 IP)
Toledo: #41 LHP Calhoun Steven (0-3, 5.74 ERA, 26 SO, 11 BB, 5 GS, 26.2 IP)
Sunday, March 22
Kent State: #35 RHP Andy Ravel (1-1, 4.05 ERA, 17 SO, 7 BB, 4 GS, 20.0 IP)
Toledo: #35 RHP Caleb Schillace (2-2, 3.21 ERA, 16 SO, 11 BB, 2 GS, 28.0 IP)
KENT STATE – TOLEDO HISTORY
• Kent State is 88-63-1 all-time against Toledo
• Last season, the two teams also met in the conference-opening series. The teams split a double-header before the Golden Flashes took the finale 6-2
• Prior to last season, the last three-game series played against the Rockets was in 2011. The Flashes took two out of three games
• The last time Toledo won a weekend series against Kent State was at home during the 2010 season
NATIONAL RANKINGS
• Kent State continues to rank in the top 25 in the country in a few statistical categories entering the weekend
• Through Tuesday's games, the Golden Flashes are 13th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings
• Zarley Zalewski's batting average is the 10th-highest in the nation while his on-base percentage ranks 11th
• Sawyer Polen is 16th in triples per game, 16th in triples, 27th in sacrifice flies, 18th in hit by pitch per game and 27th in hit by pitch
• Luke Burch ranks 15th in stolen bases per game and 43rd in stolen bases
• Nick Jensen-Clagg's four victories is good for 8th in the country while he ranks 49th in strikeouts
• Eric Lauer ranks 49th in strikeouts per nine innings and 50th in ERA
CONFERENCE-OPENING SUCCESS
• Kent State has had no problems in the past getting off to a good start in conference-opening series
• The Golden Flashes have not lost the first MAC series of the season since 2010
• In the last ten years, they are 8-2 in MAC series-openers and 16-4 in the last 20 years, including when the conference operated under a two and four-game series schedule
• In the last ten seasons, Kent State is 37-11 in the first weekend of conference play
• Going back 20 years, they are 60-19, winning 76% of their games in the opening weekend of MAC action
IN THE RECORD BOOKS
• Sawyer Polen currently has 464 career assists, which ranks 6th all-time in the Kent State record books
• Alex Miklos needs one more triple to be the career leader in that category
