First Inning Damage Shuts Down Kent State

Wednesday, May 22

Avon, Ohio

12:30 p.m.

Kent State University

30-23

Ohio University

19-32

Ohio

Kent State

Photo by: David Dermer

5/22/2019 4:41:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

AVON, Ohio – The Kent State University baseball team (30-23, 14-8 MAC) was held hitless until the fourth inning as it fell to No. 6 Ohio (19-32, 12-14 MAC) 7-3 in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Sprenger Stadium in Avon, Ohio.

The Flashes now drop into the elimination bracket, and will face either No. 4 Miami or No. 5 Northern Illinois (decided later today) Thursday, May 23, at 10 a.m.

"It's a tough way to start," Head Coach Jeff Duncan commented. "They never gave us a chance to settle in and really made the most of it in the first inning. The momentum was really on their side, but I think we did a good job steadying it in the middle of the game. When you get down like that, it puts a lot of pressure on the offense and I think we kind of lost our identity there for a little bit. It was good to start to come back, but it was just a little too much to come back from today."

First inning damage decided the game as the Bobcats plated five runs on two hits, a walk, a wild pitch and a Kent State error to take an early lead that was never relinquished through the remainder of the game.

The Flashes managed to string together singles from junior Cam Touchette and sophomore Michael Turner and an RBI-ground out from senior Kian O'Brien to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the sixth inning, however the Bobcats immediately responded with two runs of their own in the next frame to make the score 7-1.

The top of the Kent State lineup rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth, but the comeback would fall short. Redshirt sophomore Ben Carew and junior Cam Touchette each singled to lead off the inning before scoring on an RBI-single from Turner and a sacrifice fly off the bat of O'Brien, bringing the final score to 7-3.

Despite averaging seven runs and 10 hits per game through the 52-game regular season, the Kent State offense scattered nine hits against Ohio's Kenny Ogg, who threw a complete game for the Bobcats after shutting out the Flashes in the regular season. Senior Pavin Parks broke the no-hitter with a double in the fourth inning and Carew, Touchette and Turner went on to add a pair of hits apiece to lead the team. O'Brien drove in two of Kent State's three runs and Touchette crossed home plate twice for the Blue and Gold.

Senior Connor Wollersheim (6-6) suffered the loss in his 15^thstart of the season, surrendering five runs while striking out seven in 5.2 innings of work. Redshirt senior Chris Martin made his 15^thappearance in relief, recording a punch out and freshman Max Rippl made his postseason debut to finish the game with 2.2 innings pitched.

"We need to take the rest of the tournament one pitch at a time," Duncan added. "This team fights and we are going to continue doing that and fight our way back."

Kent State's will face the loser of tonight's (Wednesday) 6 p.m. game between No. 4 Miami and No. 5 Northern Illinois Thursday morning at 10 a.m. at Sprenger Stadium.