Kent State University
8-4
College of Charleston
7-7
Fast Start Leads to 13-5 Victory for the Flashes
3/10/2017 10:26:00 PM | Baseball
CHARLESTON, S.C. –Every Kent State (8-4) starter had a hit as the offense came alive Friday night in a 13-5 series-opening victory at the College of Charleston (7-7).
Three runs came in in the 1st, five in the 2nd, two in the 3rd and 3 in the 4th for the nice offensive output.
Right off the bat, Luke Burch and Mason Mamarella opened up the game with full-count walks. Pete Schuler followed with a single and then advanced to third on two different fielding errors, allowing both previous base runners to score. Schuler himself came home on a sacrifice fly by Tim DalPorto.
The Cougars put two on the board in the bottom of the first on a single, hit batter and two-RBI double to make it a one-run game.
However a quick answer back in the 2nd helped the Flashes take more of a controlling lead. A walk to Josh Hollander started the rally before John Matthews singled and Burch doubled to plate one. Dylan Rosa reached on an error later on to allow Matthews to score. With two on and two outs, Schuler smacked a three-run shot to right center to make it an 8-2 contest.
After an early call to the bullpen, Kent State continued on its torrent with two runs in the 3rd. The inning started like the other with free bases. Dom Iero and Brad Hamilton reached on full-count walks and advanced on a ground out. Matthews came up with a two-RBI base hit.
In the 4th, Schuler was hit by a pitch and DalPorto doubled to put runners on the corners. Hamilton singled them both home. Later on, a Burch base hit drove Hamilton home for the Golden Flashes' 13th and final run of the night.
College of Charleston scored a run in the bottom of the 3rd on a solo homerun and then plated two in the 9th on two doubles and a single to make it a 13-5 game. They eyed a rally with another single, but the game ended with the runner getting thrown out at third.
Eli Kraus went 6.0 innings in the start with three earned runs, five hits, one walk and four strikeouts. Austin Havekost threw the final 3.0 innings with two runs, four hits and two strikeouts.
Schuler finished his big day at the plate 4-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored. Matthews produced the biggest numbers of his young career as he went 3-for-4 with two RBI, a walk and run scored. Burch, Mamarella, and Josh Hollander all had two hits each in the winning effort.
Game two of the series is set to start at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kraus, Eli (3-1)
L: McLarty, Griffin (0-1)
S: Havekost, Austin (2)
Batting:
2B: Burch, Luke 1 ; DalPorto, Tim 1
HR: Schuler, Pete 1
RBI: Burch, Luke 2 ; Schuler, Pete 4 ; DalPorto, Tim 1 ; Hamilton, Brad 2 ; Matthews, John 2
SF: DalPorto, Tim 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Burch, Luke 2 ; Mamarella, Mason 1 ; Rosa, Dylan 1 ; Schuler, Pete 3 ; DalPorto, Tim 1 ; Iero, Dom 1 ; Hamilton, Brad 2 ; Hollander, Josh 1 ; Matthews, John 1
CS: Iero, Dom 1
HBP: Schuler, Pete 1
Batting:
2B: Dixon, Bradley 1 ; Hart, Dupree 1 ; Wall, Seth 1 ; Mundy, Joey 1
HR: Roper, Erven 1
RBI: Roper, Erven 1 ; Hart, Dupree 2 ; Mundy, Joey 1 ; Hunt, Clay 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Roper, Erven 2 ; Dixon, Bradley 1 ; Wall, Seth 1 ; Mundy, Joey 1
HBP: Dixon, Bradley 1
