Kent State Holds onto a 5-4 Victory at Eastern Michigan

Friday, May 17

Ypsilanti, MI

3:00 p.m.

Kent State University

29-22, 0

Eastern Michigan University

11-42-1, 0

Kent State

Eastern Michigan

Photo by: Scott R. Galvin/Galvin Photo, LLC

Kent State Holds onto a 5-4 Victory at Eastern Michigan

5/17/2019 6:18:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

YPSILANTI, Mich. – Held scoreless until the sixth inning, the Kent State University baseball team (29-22, 16-8 MAC) came back in the late innings to squeak past Eastern Michigan (11-42-1, 6-20 MAC), 5-4, Friday afternoon at Oestrike Stadium. Junior John Matthews earned his fourth straight win out of the bullpen, working 4.1 innings with eight strikeouts.

The Flashes notched 10 hits for the second day in a row, more than doubling their total in the sixth inning. Redshirt sophomore Ben Carew and junior Cam Touchette led the Kent State offense going 2-for-5 at the plate. Carew extended his hitting streak to 17 games as he has now reached base in each of the last 32 games.

The Flashes fell behind 2-0 through the first four innings as the bats were quieted to just three until the sixth inning.

Kent State managed to string together four hits in the top of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead. Junior Cam Touchette led off the inning with a double hit sharply down the right field line. Sophomore Michael Turner plated Kent State's first run with an RBI-single, again barely fair down the line in right field. Senior Pavin Parks followed with an RBI-double off the wall in right-center field to score Turner and freshman Justin Kirby rounded out the inning, driving in a run on a double down the left field line.

Turner came up with his second RBI of the day, recording his sixth sacrifice fly of the season, but the Eagles tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the frame.

The Flashes regained a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth after Touchette reached on a throwing error, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Turner, stole third and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by O'Brien.

The Eagles put the winning run on first base in the bottom of the ninth and had the chance to walk off for the second day in a row, but the Flashes walked away with a 5-4 victory.

Junior Zach Schultz started on the mound for the Blue and Gold, spinning 4.2 innings and striking out two. Matthews worked 4.1 innings of relief to close the game, fanning eight.

The Flashes will close out the three-game set in Ypsilanti, Mich. and the regular season, facing Eastern Michigan on Saturday, May 18, at Oestrike Stadium at 1 p.m.