Kent State Hangs on to Beat Penn State 10-9

Wednesday, April 20

Kent, Ohio

6:00 PM

Kent State University

27-10

Penn State University

23-14

Penn State

Kent State

Kent State Hangs on to Beat Penn State 10-9

4/20/2016 10:29:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

KENT, Ohio – Wednesday night proved to be full of intensity as Kent State (27-10) broke Penn State's (23-14) six-game win streak in a back-and-forth ballgame that ended 10-9.

The game started with a catcher's interference call in the first at-bat that led the Nittany Lions to get three runs, two of them unearned, in the opening frame. The Golden Flashes were able to close the deficit with a two-run 2^nd when Dylan Rosa singled, Conner Simonetti tripled him home, then Simonetti scored on a Dom Iero sacrifice fly.

Kent State took the lead with two more in the 3^rd. Luke Burch had a base hit and moved to third on two groundouts. Rosa then reached on an error that allowed Burch to score. After Simonetti singled, both he and Rosa crossed home on a Iero base hit up the middle.

It became a 7-3 lead for the Golden Flashes as they were able to plate three more runs in the 4^th. Sam Hurt started things with a walk before Reilly Hawkins reached on a bunt single. Mason Mamarella then doubled to center to score one. A Zarley Zalewski base hit brought in another. A wild pitch later in the inning allowed Mamarella to scamper home.

Both teams tallied a run in the 5^th as Penn State singled and scored on an error and Kent State's Pete Schuler was hit by a pitch and scored later on a single by Hawkins.

The Nittany Lions put together back-to-back two-run innings in the 6^th and 7^th to tie the game at eight. A Schuler double and Burch two-out single put the Flashes back in front by a run in the 7^th. Simonetti swatted the first pitch he saw in the 8^th inning over the wall in right for his 10^th homeruns of the season to increase the lead to 10-8.

In the 9^th, bases were loaded on a single, walk and single to make things interesting with just one out in the frame. Zach Willeman then earned a strikeout to leave Penn State with one more out. All the runners were able to come around on a passed ball to put the visitors within one, but a popup to Schuler behind the plate ended the threat and allowed the Flashes to capture the victory.

Connor Wollersheim went 5.0 innings in the start with one earned run, six hits, no walks and two strikeouts. Chris Martin and Tim Faix filled in the middle innings before Zach Spangler threw 1.1 frames for the win with one hits and two strikeouts. Willeman earned his ninth save and moved up to third all-time in career saves at Kent State as the allowed two hits, two walks, one run but struck out two in the final inning.

Simonetti had a big day at the plate with a homerun, triple and single in five at-bats. He had two RBI and scored two runs. Schuler also had a three-hit night with a double and two runs scored. Burch, Mamarella and Hawkins all finished with two hits each.

Mid-American Conference play will pick back up this weekend when the Golden Flashes travel to Ohio for the first East Division series of the season.