Kent State University
Central Michigan
Annnnnnnd Exhale!
5/24/2018 6:28:00 PM | Baseball
KSU starts post-season by escaping with 8-7 win
Annnnnnnd Exhale!
KSU starts post-season by escaping with 8-7 win
AVON, OHIO – Kent State built what looked like a commanding 8-1 lead in its first Mid-American Conference Tournament game, but had to hold on for dear life as Central Michigan's five-run ninth gave the Flashes quite the scare.
But when the dust settled at Sprenger Stadium, freshman Collin Romel got two critical outs with the tying run at second in the ninth to preserve the KSU lead, 8-7. It made a winner of MAC Pitcher of the Year Joey Murray, who tied Bryan Bullington on the MAC single-season strikeouts list with 139. The Golden Flashes picked up their 10th straight post-season win over CMU.
After the Chips struck first, KSU countered with three in the bottom of the third. They also added three more in the fifth to open the game. In his first playoff game, Pavin Parks clubbed two extra-base hits and tallied four runs batted in to help the Kent State offensive cause. The good guys made it 8-1 with two more runs in the sixth. Pete Schuler drove in two for the victorious Flashes and Reilly Hawkins plated one.
With the win, Kent State advances to a Friday showdown with either Miami or Ball State in the winner's bracket final. It is also in essence a tournament semi-final with the winner advancing to the title game. The winner would then have to be defeated twice by a team from the play-back bracket.
Game time is slated for 6 p.m.
