Kent State University
Western Carolina University
Final Homestand Starts Thursday at Schoonover
5/18/2016 4:42:00 PM | Baseball
The regular season will come to a close this week as Kent State (39-12) hosts Western Carolina (25-26) for a three-game set at Schoonover Stadium.
EVENT SCHEDULE
• Thursday- 6:00 p.m. start time
• Friday- 6:00 p.m. start time. Graduation night ceremony beginning at 5:40 p.m.
• Saturday- 1:00 p.m. start time. Senior Day ceremony beginning at 12:40 p.m.
COVERAGE
• All games will air live on Golden Flashes iHeart Radio
• Live stats will be available at sidearmstats.com/kent/baseball
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Thursday, May 19
Kent State: #10 LHP Eric Lauer (9-2, 0.81 ERA, 109 SO, 25 BB, 13 GS, 89.1 IP)
Western Carolina: #32 LHP Bryan Sammons (7-3, 5.57 ERA, 73 SO, 48 BB, 14 GS, 84.0 IP)
Friday, May 20
Kent State: #35 RHP Andy Ravel (7-4, 3.66 ERA, 71 SO, 19 BB, 13 GS, 78.2 IP)
Western Carolina: #26 LHP Taylor Durand (0-1, 7.30 ERA, 17 SO, 15 BB, 1 GS, 12.1 IP)
Saturday, May 21
Kent State: #31 LHP Eli Kraus (9-1, 2.37 ERA, 58 SO, 23 BB, 13 GS, 83.2 IP)
Western Carolina: #22 RHP Korey Anderson (1-3, 10.09 ERA, 29 SO, 23 BB, 6 GS, 33.0 IP)
THE MATCHUP
• Kent State is 2-3 in five all-time matchups with Western Carolina
• The last time the two teams met was at a neutral site in 2005 with the Golden Flashes losing 4-1 on March 5
• Kent State opened the 2001 season against Western Carolina in 2001, losing that game 9-5
• Prior to that, the Flashes logged a win at the Catamounts in 1996 in a 9-4 game
• In 1993, the Flashes met the Catamounts in an NCAA Regional game, winning 8-5 in the team's 41st victory of the season
• The two teams also met at NCAA Regionals in 1992, when Western Carolina took that game 14-1
• WCU is coming off a 3-1 loss at Cincinnati on Tuesday
• They are batting .308 as team and have an ERA of 6.27
MAC TOURNAMENT ON DECK
• The 2016 Mid-American Conference Tournament will begin Wednesday, May 25, as Kent State will face the No. 8 seed in game one as the Flashes clinched the No. 1 seed as the MAC regular season champion
• Ball State has locked up the No. 2 seed
• Miami is currently the 3 seed at 12-9 while Northern Illinois is the 4 at 7-14
• Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Central Michigan are all 10-11 entering the final weekend of MAC play where they are slated to face each other to determine the 5-8 seeds
NO-NO REWARDS
• After throwing the 11th no-hitter in program history last Friday, Eric Lauer was named the National Player of the Week by the NCAA, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the NCAA and was one of six Players of the Week as chosen by Collegiate Baseball
• The junior lefty currently ranks 2nd in the country in ERA, 1st in hits allowed per nine innings, 2nd in WHIP, 6th in strikeouts and 13th in victories
• He received MAC East Division Pitcher of the Week honors for the 5th straight week and leads the conference in ERA, strikeouts and wins
• In Kent State's record book, Lauer ranks in both the career and single season stats
• For his career, he is 5th in innings pitched, tied for 6th in wins and is 2nd in strikeouts
• For single season records, he currently sits tied for 6th in wins, ranks 5th in strikeouts and has the best single-season ERA with a minimum of 30 innings pitched
MAGIC NUMBERS
• This season the Golden Flashes are 19-1 when scoring 6-9 runs and 10-2 when scoring ten or more
• Scoring in the first inning results in success as the team is 17-1 when doing so
• When the team is leading after six innings they are 30-2 and an ideal 32-0 when up through seven
• Kent State is 14-0 when playing errorless baseball
