Kent State University
36-11, 17-4
University at Buffalo
14-28, 6-15
Flashes Roll to 12-2 Win to Sweep Bulls
5/8/2016 5:18:00 PM | Baseball
KENT, Ohio – Kent State's bats came alive, the defense stayed sharp and Eli Kraus was untouchable until the 9th as the Flashes rolled to a 12-2 victory and series sweep of Buffalo (14-28, 6-15) on Sunday afternoon.
Kraus was two outs shy of a complete-game shutout to help Kent State improve to 36-11 and 17-4 in Mid-American Conference play, where the team sits three-games up in first place. The offense generated 19 hits in the contest to put the game away early.
The first run of the day came in the 2nd inning when Dylan Rosa singled, moved on a balk and came home on base hit by Conner Simonetti. A seven-run 3rd inning broke the game wide open. Three singles, a double, four more singles, an error and sacrifice fly resulted in the damaging inning as production rained in from every spot in the order.
The Bulls threatened in the 6th as they loaded the bases with one out, but Kraus made a heads-up snag to begin a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the jam unscathed.
The Flashes' bats were quiet in the middle innings until they made more noise with two runs in the 7th and two more in the 8th. After the stretch, Pete Schuler walked, Tim DalPorto doubled and Dom Iero hit drove them both home on a base hit up the middle. In the 8th, Kent State had bases loaded when Rosa singled, Reilly Hawkins singled and Schuler walked. Iero came up big again with another base hit that scored one before a second run came home on a fielding error, making it a 12-0 game.
The only blemish on the day was a two-run homerun given up to the Bulls in the 9th. Eli Martin then entered the game and got a ground out and fly out to end it. Kraus finished with two runs, seven hits, one walk and six strikeouts in 8.1 innings.
Every single Kent State starter had a hit in the contest, led by three each from Rosa and Iero. Iero led with a team-high four RBI. Other multi-hit days came from Luke Burch, Mason Mamarella, Simonetti, DalPorto and Josh Hollander.
The team will have the week off to take care of final exams before traveling to Bowling Green next weekend for its final MAC series of the season and a chance to clinch the outright regular season championship.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kraus, Eli (8-1)
L: DUBIN, Shawn (1-5)
Batting:
HR: KWITZER, Chris 1
RBI: KWITZER, Chris 2
Base Running:
RUNS: MALLARO, Vinny 1 ; KWITZER, Chris 1
Batting:
2B: Zalewski, Zarley 1 ; Rosa, Dylan 1 ; DalPorto, Tim 1 ; Hollander, Josh 1
RBI: Zalewski, Zarley 2 ; Simonetti, Conner 2 ; DalPorto, Tim 1 ; Iero, Dom 4 ; Hollander, Josh 1
SF: Hollander, Josh 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Burch, Luke 1 ; Mamarella, Mason 1 ; Zalewski, Zarley 1 ; Rosa, Dylan 2 ; Simonetti, Conner 1 ; Hawkins, Reilly 1 ; Schuler, Pete 2 ; DalPorto, Tim 2 ; Hollander, Josh 1
