Kent State University
Central Michigan University
Top MAC Teams to Face Off at Schoonover This Weekend
4/27/2017 11:46:00 AM | Baseball
The top two teams in the Mid-American Conference will face off at Schoonover Stadium this weekend as Kent State (25-12, 10-2) hosts Central Michigan (22-18, 10-2). Game one will start at 3 p.m. on Friday with Saturday's game scheduled for 4 p.m. and the finale set for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Flashes and Chippewas are tied for first place in the overall conference standings entering the weekend.
COVERAGE
• Listen in on Golden Flashes iHeart Radio
• Live stats for all three games will run at sidearmstats.com/kent/baseball
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Friday, April 28
Kent State: #31 LHP Eli Kraus (5-2, 2.70 ERA, 45 SO, 14 BB, 9 GS, 60.0 IP)
CMU: #42 RHP Dazon Cole (2-4, 4.97 ERA, 29 SO, 26 BB, 10 GS, 54.1 IP)
Saturday, April 29
Kent State: #23 RHP Zach Willeman (5-3, 4.86 ERA, 45 SO, 22 BB, 9 GS, 50.0 IP)
CMU: #35 LHP Tyler Hankins (4-1, 3.84 ERA, 38 SO, 19 BB, 9 GS, 63.1 IP)
Sunday, April 30
Kent State: #30 RHP Joey Murray (5-0, 2.40 ERA, 66 SO, 20 BB, 9 GS, 45.0 IP)
CMU: #17 RHP Pat Leatherman (5-4, 4.18 ERA, 50 SO, 29 BB, 10 GS, 56.0 IP)
THE MATCHUP
• Kent State is 50-56 all-time against Central Michigan
• The Flashes took the series last season at CMU, winning 17-5, dropping game two 13-10, then taking the series with a 5-2 Sunday win to start MAC play
• Kent State also took series wins two games to one at Kent in 2013 and o the road in 2012
• Both teams currently sit at 10-2 in the MAC
• Central Michigan's two losses came against Western Michigan, 11-2, and at Bowling Green, 3-2
• The Chippewas are coming off a 8-4 midweek win against Oakland
• Last weekend they took two of three at Bowling Green
• They are hitting .283 as a team and have a combined ERA of 5.35
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STRONG SIX
• The Flashes have proved to be a formidable force in the last six games, especially the pitching staff
• Three starters (Eli Kraus, Joe Vranesic and Zach Willeman) have ERAs of 1.35 or lower in the span
• Joey Murray is not much worse at 1.59 in his last start
• Four hurlers (Zach Schultz, Austin Havekost, Connor Wollersheim and John Matthews) have 0.00 ERAs while throwing at least 2.0 innings
• The team has a combined ERA of 1.80 in the past six games with 61 strikeouts in 60.0 innings as fine outings have come from both starters and the bullpen staff
• Offensively, Mason Mamarella has hit an even .500 in the past six games while Nick Kanavas has hit .417 and Dylan Rosa .375
• 18 doubles have been hit in that same span
• The Flashes have turned eight double plays in the last six games while getting doubled up just once
NATIONAL RANKINGS
• For active career leaders around the nation, sophomore Joey Murray is top in strikeouts per nine innings with 13.18 in his career
• Luke Burch is 9th in batting average
• This season, the team's batting average currently ranks 22nd out of nearly 300 teams nationwide
• Kent State also ranks 31st in doubles per game, 43rd in ERA, 33rd in hits allowed per nine innings, 10th in shutouts, 28th in strikeouts per nine innings and 34th in win-loss percentage
• Individually, Murray is 5th in strikeouts per nine innings
• Burch ranks 4th in the nation in hits per game and 39th in batting average
