Kent State University
Miami University (OH)
Flashes Head to Oxford for Four-Game Set
4/22/2021 4:30:00 PM | Baseball
KENT, OHIO- Kent State baseball hits the road this weekend, traveling to Oxford to take on the Miami (OH) Redhawks in a four-game series.
The series starts on Friday evening with a 5:00 p.m. scheduled first pitch. Saturday's double header and Sunday's single-game finale will start at 1:00 p.m.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN FLASHES
Kent State will look to bounce back after dropping three-of-four to Central Michigan, including a pair of Saturday pitchers' duels. The Flashes took the finale of the four-game set and will look to ride that momentum into this weekend.
BALANCED ATTACK
Kent State is hitting .288 as a team during conference play. The Golden Flashes have four players hitting .365 or better during MAC play and all of them are in the top-12 in the race for the conference batting title. Collin Mathews leads the team with a .415 MAC batting average and he's one of six players in the MAC hitting .400 or better against MAC pitching.
TWICE AS NICE
Ben Carew recorded another multi-hit game last weekend giving him 43 multi-hit games dating back to the start of the 2019 season. Carew is one of the NCAA leaders in the category, during that span, Carew has played in 99 games, meaning that 43 percent of the time, Carew has recorded two or more hits in a game.
START ME UP
The Kent State starters allowed two earned runs or fewer in the final three games of the Central Michigan series. Righty Jack Kartsonas made his first start in his Kent State career and tossed five innings allowing only two unearned runs against the Chippewas on Sunday. Traditional Friday starter Luke Albright will look for a bounce back start after failing to throw at least five innings for the first time this season last time out. Albright has been phenomenal this year and has struck out 31 batters in 21 MAC innings, this past week, ESPN.com had Albright listed at pick #58 in the latest MLB mock draft.
ABOUT MIAMI
The Redhawks should be well rested after last weekend's series with Bowling Green got postponed. Miami sits at 18-12 overall and 11-5 in the MAC, a game in back of Ball State and Central Michigan.
Miami has been winning on the strength of their pitching. They have a 2.98 team earned run average in MAC play and lead the conference with 185 strikeouts in 133 innings pitched. Headlining the group is right hander Sam Bachman. Bachman is considered a first-round talent in this year's draft and has hit triple digits on his fastball. He is 1-0 in four starts against MAC foes and struck out 11 Western Michigan Broncos over six innings in his last start. Both he and Luke Albright hail from Fishers, Indiana and could face each other in the opener.
Aside from Bachman, Miami has a strong bullpen with five guys with earned run averages at 2.50 or lower.
Offensively, Miami is hitting .265 as a team and averaging about five runs per game in MAC play. Utility man Benji Brokemond leads the way with a .339 average and a team-best four stolen bases. Nate Stone has a team high 11 runs driven in and also leads the club with two homers. As a team, Miami has left the yard just seven times in 16 MAC games, but the pitching has been even stingier, allowing only four home runs.
FOLLOW ALONG
There will be no streaming for the weekend series, but Miami is providing live stats for the four-game series. The links to the live stats can be found on the baseball schedule page.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Flashes will start a two-weekend, eight-game home stand starting next Friday with the Ohio Bobcats coming to town for a four-game set. First pitch on Friday night from Schoonover Stadium is set for 5 p.m.
