Kent State University
Northern Illinois University (7 Innings)
Flashes Head to Illinois for Four-Game set with Huskies
3/24/2022 11:58:00โฏAM | Baseball
KENT, OHIO- The Golden Flashes will head to the Land of Lincoln this weekend for a unique four-game series with Northern Illinois.
Due to weather and field conditions, the teams will play a double header on Friday starting at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT at Northwestern's Miller Park in Evanston, Illinois. Saturday, the teams will play a solo game starting at 3 pm ET/Noon CT, also at Northwestern. Sunday's series finale will also have a 1 p.m. ET/noon CT start and be the only game on Northern Illinois' campus.
This marks the second-straight road weekend for the Flashes who dropped three of four games at Ohio last weekend. The Kent State bats have been hot during MAC play, hitting .325 as a club with six hitters batting over .300. On the season, the Golden Flashes lead the MAC with a .295 team average.
The middle of the order duo of Aidan Longwell (5th) and Justin Miknis (3rd) sit amongst the MAC leaders in batting average. They also sit in the top five in OPS (on-base plus slugging). It's been a team effort in driving in runs, seven Golden Flashes have nine or more runs driven in and five have 10 or more.
Both Kyle Jackson and Miknis will be looking to keep streaks alive this weekend. Jackson has reached base safely in 18 consecutive games, dating back to last year. Miknis is running a six-game hitting streak that includes a pair of multi-hit games during the run.
Richie Dell will get the ball in one of Friday's games for the Flashes. #DellDay has been rock solid so far, leading the club in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts. The righty is averaging over a strike out per inning so far this season.
Northern Illinois comes into the weekend 3-3 in MAC play and 3-13 overall. They have split their two series so far this season, going 1-1 against Ohio and 2-2 against the Zips, both on the road. It's been boom or bust for NIU, they have scored eight or more runs in their three MAC wins and two or fewer runs in their three losses. Carlos Aranda has led the offense with a .333 average this season in 13 games while Eric Erato has a team-high 12 driven in.
The Huskies' staff is led by a pair of southpaws in Kyle Seebach and Reagan Klawter. Seebach got a win last weekend after going eight innings and allowing three runs against the Zips. Klawter has gone at least six innings in his last three outings and hasn't allowed more than four earned during that stretch.
With the first three games of the series being off campus, there will be no live stream for those games. NIU will broadcast Sunday's game should it be played in DeKalb. Northern Illinois will provide live stats for each game.
The Golden Flashes return home for eight of their next nine following this weekend. The home stand starts on Friday, April 1st with the UCONN Huskies coming to town. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m.
ย ย
