Flashes Fall Short in Back-and-Forth Battle in Morgantown

Sunday, March 10

Morgantown, WV

1:00 p.m.

Kent State University

4-10

West Virginia University

9-5

Kent State

West Virginia

Flashes Fall Short in Back-and-Forth Battle in Morgantown

3/10/2019 5:57:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MORGANTOWN, W.V. – In a game that changed hands four times, the Kent State baseball team (4-10) fell short in in a 9-7 loss to West Virginia (9-5) at Monongalia County Ballpark Sunday afternoon. Sophomore Nick Elsen went 3-for-5, launching two of Kent State's three home runs in the series sweep.

After falling behind 2-0 through the first three innings, the Flashes rallied for three runs in the top of the fourth to go ahead. Senior Pete Schuler led off the inning by rocketing a home run opposite field to left field. A batter later, Elsen notched with his first shot of the game, also sending it over the left field wall. Senior Pavin Parks followed with a single, advanced to third on a single by senior Kian O'Brien and finally scored the Flashes' third run on a sacrifice fly from redshirt sophomore Kevin Dobos.

The Mountaineers responded with a run in both the fourth and fifth innings to regain the lead, but Kent State mustered two runs on back-to-back sacrifice fly ball from Dobos and sophomore Greg Lewandoski in the top of the sixth to take back the advantage, 5-4.

In the bottom of the sixth, West Virginia secured the victory with a five-run inning that featured a three-run home run.

The Flashes started to come back in the top of the seventh with Elsen's two-run home run crushed 390 feet at 100 mph off the bat to the highway beyond the bullpen in left field, but fell short for a final score of 9-7, West Virginia.

The Kent State offense tallied 13 hits off of Mountaineer pitching that held the Flashes to 14 hits across two games Saturday. Elsen led the Flashes going 3-for-5 with two home runs, three runs scored and three RBIs. Schuler and O'Brien collected three hits apiece and Dobos recorded two RBIs.

Redshirt senior John Schreiber (1-1) made his fourth start on the mound for Kent State, allowing 3 earned runs and two walks while striking out two in 4.1 innings of work. Freshman Luke Albright (1-1) suffered the loss, throwing 1.2 innings in relief. Redshirt senior Chris Martin closed the game with 2.0 scoreless innings of work.

The Flashes will host Youngstown State for the home opener at Schoonover Stadium on Tuesday, March 12 at 4:00 p.m.