Sweep Complete as Kent State Beats Ball State 9-4

Sunday, March 26

Muncie, IN

12:00 PM

Kent State University

15-6, 3-0

Ball State University

11-13, 0-3

Kent State

Ball State

Sweep Complete as Kent State Beats Ball State 9-4

3/26/2017 4:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MUNCIE, Ind. – A Sunday sweep was made complete as Kent State (15-6, 3-0) took down Ball State (11-13, 0-3) 9-4 to start off conference play in impressive fashion in a matchup of preseason division favorites.

"It was a very good series for us to go on the road in a tough environment and take all three," said Head Coach Jeff Duncan. "Ball State is a good team which makes it even more impressive. We got three quality starts on the weekend and our bullpen was tremendous, especially Jared Skolnicki and Connor Wollersheim. Offensively – what can you say? We were very good this weekend and really all week. We have a dynamic offense that can score in many ways. Everybody through the lineup has been tremendous. We have 13-14 guys really producing. We need to continue to get better and focus on the process of getting better in all areas. That's exciting."

The Golden Flashes wasted no time getting off to a good start. Luke Burch led off the game with a base hit followed by a single from Mason Mamarella. Tim DalPorto came up with a two-run base hit to take the early lead.

Starter Joey Murray took the momentum and ran with it, as he had help from a good defensive effort, too. Murray started the bottom of the 1^st with a strikeout looking. Later on, DalPorto laid out to snag a ball at third and made a great throw across the diamond to get an out.

Murray went on to pitch a strong game through 5.1 innings. He tied his career high with 11 strikeouts while walking just one in the performance.

After opening up with a two-run inning, Kent State added on three more in the next frame. Josh Hollander started this one off with a single to left before Sam Hurt homered out to left to make it a 4-0 game. It became 5-0 when Burch singled and Mamarella tripled down the right field line to send him home.

The Flashes plated two more runs in the 5^th when Dom Iero singled and Pete Schuler drove a monster homerun out to center field. Kent State's final two runs came in the final inning when Hurt and Burch had back-to-back single before Mamarella earned two RBI on a base hit.

Ball State was able to get two runs on a homerun in the 4^th. That followed an error, single and strikeout-throw out double play in the inning. In the 7^th, they tripled, walked and plated another on a fielder's choice. The Cardinals' final tally came in the 8^th on a error and double.

Wollersheim had another good outing in relief of Murray. He went 3.2 innings with just one earned run while walking two and striking out three.

The Kent State bats had a big day with 20 hits as every starter recorded a hit for the third time this season. Seven of the starting nine had at least a two hit day. Burch led that effort by going 4-for-6 out of the leadoff spot with three runs scored. Mamarella followed with three hits ad a team-high three RBI. Hurt also picked up three hits with two RBI and two runs scored.

The team will remain on the road to take on Purdue at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Mid-American Conference play will resume this weekend when Kent State hosts Buffalo at home for three games.