Kent State University
28-26, 21-17
Eastern Michigan University
21-28, 15-23
Flashes Sweep Eagles in Final Double Header of the Season
5/29/2021 8:58:00 PM | Baseball
YPSILANTI, MI- A game one rally led to a hot start in game two and Kent State earned a double header sweep of Eastern Michigan on Saturday, winning 9-5 in game one and 4-3 in game two.
Collin Mathews led the offense on Saturday, collecting three hits and driving in five across the two games.
GAME ONE: Kent State 9 Eastern Michigan 5
Saturday's opener was another back-and-forth affair until the Golden Flashes erupted for five runs in the top of the seventh to win game one, 9-5.
Kent State scored first, capitalizing on a one-out triple from Ben Carew, Cam Touchette drove in his fellow senior with a sacrifice fly and gave the Flashes a 1-0 lead. It stayed that way until the third when the Eagles cashed in on a pair of Luke Albright walks with a two-run double from Daniel Warkentin to make it 2-1 Eastern Michigan.
The Flashes answered back with their second triple of the game, this time courtesy of freshman Kyle Jackson. Collin Mathews brought him in with a single, tying the game at two. The Eagles got to Albright again in the fourth with another two-run double. Albright surrendered five runs in four and a third innings while striking out three. The junior finished the season with 102 strike outs, becoming the fourth MAC pitcher to top the century mark this season.
Justin Kirby and Sam Thompson each had run-scoring doubles in the fifth to briefly tie the game at four before the Eagles took back the lead in the bottom of the inning. It stayed a 5-4 game until the seventh.
The Flashes rally started with a pair of singles. Justin Kirby followed with a bunt single, with the tying run scoring on a throwing error. Kent State continued to capitalize on Eagle miscues, beating out a force play and scoring on another error off a bunt. A Mathews' double broke the game open as five crossed the plate on four hits and two errors in the inning. Jack Zimmerman struck out two in the seventh to finish off his fourth win of the season.
GAME TWO: Kent State 4 Eastern Michigan 3
Once again, the Flashes struck early, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the first. Carew reach on an error, moved to second on a Touchette single and scored on a base hit from Kirby. Collin Mathews made it 3-0 an inning later with a two-run single and Jackson made it 4-0 in the third with a rbi single of his own. The Eagles chipped away at the lead with single tallies off of Richie Dell in the second, third and fourth. Dell went four innings in the night cap, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out two as he finishes the season at 4-3 overall.
The Kent State bullpen made the 4-3 lead stand up. Trevor Pittman worked an inning and two-thirds of shutout relief and handed it off to Aidan Longwell. The freshman earned the save after working around his own throwing error that put runners on first and third with nobody out in the seventh. The lefty got a strike out and a game-ending double play to secure the sweep and his second save of the season.
The Flashes now sit at 29-26 on the season and will go for the series win tomorrow in the regular season finale. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Zimmerman, Jack (4-3)
L: HOUSE, Trevor (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Mathews, Collin 1 ; Miknis, Justin 1 ; Kirby, Justin 1 ; Thompson, Sam 1
3B: Carew, Ben 1 ; Jackson, Kyle 1
RBI: Mathews, Collin 3 ; Touchette, Cam 1 ; Kirby, Justin 1 ; Thompson, Sam 2
SF: Touchette, Cam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Carew, Ben 1 ; Touchette, Cam 1 ; McNamara, Michael 1 ; Wentz, Eric 1 ; Kirby, Justin 2 ; Thompson, Sam 1 ; Jackson, Kyle 2
SB: Mathews, Collin 1
Batting:
2B: HOPKINS, Taylor 1 ; WARKENTIN, Daniel 1 ; GORA, Eli 1
RBI: HOPKINS, Taylor 2 ; WARKENTIN, Daniel 2 ; SINES, Evan 1
SH: JONES, Nate 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HOPKINS, Taylor 1 ; DENTON, Gabe 1 ; WARKENTIN, Daniel 1 ; MONAHAN, Mike 1 ; SINES, Evan 1
CS: GORA, Eli 1
HBP: SINES, Evan 2
