Eight-Game Road Trip Opens Friday at Wofford
2/23/2023 4:00:00 PM | Baseball, General
KENT- The Golden Flashes embark on an eight-game, 12-day road trip to close non-conference play and it starts this weekend in Spartanburg, South Carolina against the Wofford Terriers.
The Flashes started the season taking two out of three from the Jacksonville Dolphins and will look to keep that momentum going against the pre-season SoCon favorites.
Starting pitching led the way for the Flashes in the opening series with the lefty trio of Ben Cruikshank, Joe Whitman and Eric Chalus combining for 17 innings and three earned runs allowed. The trio had an exceptional 25:2 strikeout to walk ratio and allowed only nine hits. Whitman led the charge with 11 strikeouts over five shutout innings, taking home MAC Pitcher of the Week accolades for his efforts.
Offensively, the Flashes knocked out 12 doubles over the three games, one of the top marks in Division-I over the opening weekend. The Flashes carried the momentum of Saturday's 16-inning marathon win into Sunday, erupting for 18 runs in a runaway victory. It was a balanced offensive attack with six different guys driving in three or more runs over the weekend and six scored at least three times.
It will be a formidable test this weekend as Wofford has won three straight after an opening day loss to Southern Illinois. The Terriers placed five players on the SoCon pre-season all-conference team, including four on the first team. Wofford loves to run, having stole 146 bases last year in a 42-win season and 10 bases already this season. Ryan Galanie is the reigning SoCon Player of the Week and is off to a torrid start, hitting .692 coming into the weekend.
While Kent State will start three lefties on the mound, Wofford will counter with three righties. Coulson Buchanan will go on Friday and tossed four innings of one run, five strikeout ball in a Terrier win over SIU. Charlie Weber is set for Saturday and also went four innings allowing two runs and striking out three. Sunday's starter Matthew Marchal was a pre-season All-American and the pre-season SoCon Pitcher of the Year. He didn't get out of the first on opening night but responded with four perfect innings in the win over UNC-Asheville on Tuesday.
Friday's game will start at 5:30 followed by a Saturday 2 p.m. start and a 1 p.m start on Sunday. Live stats will be available for all three games and Sunday's game will stream on ESPN +. Links are available on the baseball schedule page.
The road trip heads to west Kentucky for a pair of mid-week contests with Murray State. Both Tuesday and Wednesday's games will have a 4 p.m. eastern time first pitch and will stream on ESPN +.
