Kent State University
Ball State University
Flashes Head to Muncie to take on Cardinals
5/13/2021 3:00:00 PM | Baseball
KENT, OHIO- The Golden Flashes hit the road this weekend, traveling to Muncie, Indiana for a four-game series with the Ball State Cardinals.
The four-game set will begin on Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday's double header will start at 1 p.m. with Sunday's finale also set for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
Kent State enters the weekend in fifth place in the Mid-American Conference at 22-21 overall and 15-13 in conference play. Ball State is in second in the MAC at 30-14 and 21-7 in conference play, one game in back of Central Michigan.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN FLASHES
Kent State took three-of-four from rival Akron last weekend, capping the weekend with a 8-3 victory on Monday afternoon. The Flashes had a very balanced offensive attack against the Zips. Ben Carew had multiple hits in all four games, going 9-for-15 over the weekend. Dating back to 2019, Carew has 47 multi-hit games, one of the top numbers in all of college baseball. Carew also scored seven times over the weekend, with Collin Mathews knocking him in. Mathews also went 9-for-15 over the weekend, driving in eight runs. He hit a "walk-off" grand slam on Friday night that invoked the run-rule in Kent State's 13-3 victory.
On the mound, the Golden Flashes got strong performances across the board against the Zips. Collin Romel got things started with a complete game victory on Friday night, the southpaw has picked up victories in each of his last two starts. While Luke Albright took the tough-luck loss, the righty allowed two runs or fewer for the 11th time in 12 starts this season. Richie Dell tossed six innings and allowed just one earned run and Benny Roebuck went four strong innings in his first college start.
ABOUT BALL STATE
The Kent State staff will go up against a Ball State squad that is hitting a MAC best .306 against conference pitching and is averaging over seven runs per game. It's a balanced attack with seven players driving in 20 or more runs so far this season with two over 30.
On the mound, the Cardinals have pitched to a 3.98 team earned run average in conference, good for third in the league. The Cardinals top three starters have at least four wins in their seven starts. Kent State will try to get into a Cardinal bullpen that only has one reliever with an era under 3.10.
FOLLOW ALONG
All four games will be streamed and live statted by Ball State, the links can be found on the baseball schedule page. You can also follow along @KentStBaseball on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Flashes will wrap up their home portion of the schedule next weekend against the Western Michigan Broncos. Senior weekend will get started on Friday night with a 5 p.m. first pitch.
