Lauer Leads Flashes to Series-Opening Win at Charlotte

Friday, March 4

Charlotte, NC

3:00 PM

Kent State University

5-3

Charlotte

5-4

Kent State

Charlotte

Photo by: David Dermer

Lauer Leads Flashes to Series-Opening Win at Charlotte

3/4/2016 5:38:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Fine pitching, timely hitting and some good defense handed Kent State (5-3) a 4-3 victory in the series-opener with Charlotte (5-4) on Friday.

"We played very well today," said Head Coach Jeff Duncan. "It was a great pitching performance from Lauer. There was tremendous defense behind him today with Neuschaefer, Burch, Rosa and Beckner all making great plays in the field. We had three two-out hits and a walk, which shows signs of a good ball club. Rosa and Simonetti had nice days at the plate today as well. Overall, it was a good, fundamentally sound win today."

Starter Eric Lauer had a dominant start to the game, throwing eight pitches in the first to get three quick outs. His only ball in the inning was the second-to last thrown.

In the bottom of the 3^rd, the 49ers nearly struck first on a base hit, but Jacob Neuschaefer recorded an outfield assist to get the runner at home trying to score.

That defensive play gave the Flashes some momentum in the next inning. Runners were on the corners after Alex Miklos reached on a fielder's choice and Zarley Zalewski singled. Dylan Rosa came up with a two-out double to score the game's first run.

In the 6^th, Luke Burch got to second base on an error to lead off the inning and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Neuschaefer. That allowed him to score easily on a sacrifice fly by Miklos, increasing the Kent State lead to 2-0.

Lauer's day ended after a solo homerun to start the bottom the 8^th broke his scoreless game. His final line was an impressive one run, four hits, one walk and three strikeouts through seven frames.

Kent State added in some insurance in the 9^th when Zalewski was hit by a pitch and scored later on a double by Conner Simonetti. A wild pitch later on scored Rosa who had reached on a fielder's choice to make it a 4-1 game.

A walk, double and groundout tacked on a run for Charlotte. A two-out RBI base hit for the 49ers then made it a one-run game. But, a groundout ended the game with the Flashes holding an advantage.

Lauer earned the win and Zach Willeman the save, as the latter threw the final two innings with two runs, two hits, one walk and one strikeout. Offensively, Rosa was the only Flash with a multi-hit day with two. Both teams had an even six hits each.

Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m.