Baseball Earns Series Victory over Chippewas with Saturday’s Twin Bill Split

Saturday, April 13

Kent, OH

1:00 p.m.

Kent State University

14-18, 0

Central Michigan University

25-9, 0

Central Michigan

Kent State

Photo by: David Dermer

Baseball Earns Series Victory over Chippewas with Saturday’s Twin Bill Split

4/13/2019 10:20:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

KENT, Ohio – The Kent State University baseball team (15-18, 5-5 MAC) earned its second Mid-American Conference series victory of the season, splitting a double header with Central Michigan (25-10, 8-4 MAC) at Schoonover Stadium Saturday. The Chippewas earned a 7-4 victory in the first game, but the Flashes rallied to pick up a 12-4 win in the nightcap to win the series 2-1.

Freshman Justin Kirby had a monster day at the plate, going 6-for-7 with two home runs, two doubles and a triple. The rookie was just a single shy of hitting for the cycle, picking up a walk in his third at bat and narrowly missing his fifth trip to the plate with the Kent State offense ending the day with Kirby on deck. Kirby scored five times on the day and collected three RBIs on the day.

"For the team to come back and be resilient after a tough loss in the first game, that was good to see," Head Coach Jeff Duncan said. "We attacked the game the whole weekend and our lineup is really coming around and being aggressive. We are starting to dictate the game."

Game 1: Central Michigan 7, Kent State 4

Junior John Matthews started on the mound in the first game of the day, going 5.0 innings and striking out seven. Redshirt sophomore threw 3.0 scoreless innings of relief, adding three punch outs on the day. Sophomore Jack Zimmerman and senior Pavin Parks closed out the day with a combined three strikeouts, however Parks (1-1) suffered the loss in the ninth inning.

The Chippewas struck first, jumping out to a 4-0 lead through the first three innings.

The Flashes cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the third as Kirby started a four-hit, two-run rally with a one-out double to right field. Redshirt sophomore Ben Carew followed with a single that advanced Kirby to third before he stole second base. Junior Cam Touchette notched the first KSU RBI of the day, scoring Kirby on a ground ball to shortstop. Sophomore Michael Turner added a run with an RBI-single up the middle to score Carew and bring the score to 4-2.

Kirby tied the game at 4-4 with a two-out, two-run home run rocketed out to left-center field in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The score remained until the top of the ninth inning as the Chippewas loaded the bases on free passes and eventually scored three runs without recording a hit in the inning to win the game 7-4.

The Flashes totaled eight hits in the loss and Kirby led the team going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Carew and junior Alex Ronnebaum also added a hit and a run apiece heading into the nightcap.

Game 2: Kent State 12, Central Michigan 4

The Flashes bounced back in the series finale, commanding the game from the first inning. The Kent State offense collected 15 hits with five Flashes recording multi-hit games. Kirby went 3-for-3 at the plate with a home run, triple, double and a walk. The Alpharetta, Ga. native scored three runs with an RBI. Carew and senior Kian O'Brien notched three hits apiece while Parks and redshirt sophomore Kevin Dobos added a pair of hits on the game.

O'Brien and Parks also knocked home runs to highlight the series finale.

Kent State took a commanding 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and never relented, going on to score in six of eight frames.

Carew led off the first inning with a bunt-single and advanced to second on a single up the middle by Touchette. With one out, O'Brien recorded his sixth home run of the season, a three-run blasted to left-center field. A pitch later, Parks made it back-to-back jacks, launching a solo home run to right field. A triple to center by Kirby in the next at bat forced Central Michigan to dip into the bull pen with its starter only throwing 0.1 innings. Following the pitching change, Hollander scored Kirby with a sharp infield ground ball.

The Flashes extended the lead to 6-0 an inning later as Carew doubled, stole third and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

The Chippewas responded with three runs in the top of the third, but they would not score again until the top of the ninth.

Kent State brought the score to 8-3 in the fourth with Carew swatting an RBI-single up the middle and Turner picking up an RBI on an infield ground ball.

Dobos singled to left field to score Kirby an inning later before the Flashes added three more runs between the seventh and eighth innings to bring the score to 12-3.

Parks doubled to left-center to score O'Brien and Kirby sent his second home run of the day over the wall in left field in the seventh inning. An inning later, O'Brien rounded out Kent State's scoring with an RBI-single up the middle.

The Chippewas managed a run in the top of the ninth to bring the final score to 12-4.

Freshman Luke Albright (3-1) dazzled on the mound for the Flashes, pitching 6.1 innings in long relief to pick up the win in the nightcap. The rookie hurler allowed just one run on four hits while striking out three. Redshirt freshman Trevor Pittman started the game, tossing 2.2 innings with two punch outs.

The Flashes will host Pitt for a midweek matchup at Schoonover Stadium on Wednesday, April 17 at 6 p.m. before hitting the road to Northern Illinois to continue MAC play next weekend.