Flashes Run Win Streak to Seven with 12-1 Win

Friday, March 10

Kent, Ohio

2:00 PM

Kent State University

9-4, 0

Northern Illinois

3-10, 0

Northern Illinois

Kent State Baseball

Photo by: Scott R. Galvin/Galvin Photo, LLC

Flashes Run Win Streak to Seven with 12-1 Win

3/10/2023 5:12:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

KENT- The Golden Flashes continued swinging hot bats and Ben Cruikshank threw another gem as the Flashes defeated the Northern Illinois Huskies 12-1 on Friday, in the conference opener for both teams.

Kent State cranked out another 17 hits, giving them 39 base knocks to go along with 34 runs over their last 15 plate appearances. For the second straight outing, Cruikshank flirted with a no-hitter, taking one into the eighth on Friday. The lefty gave up his first base hit in the eighth and left after seven shutout innings allowing the one hit, four walks and fanning a season-high 11.

The Flashes jumped on the board early, plating two in the bottom of the first. After Kyle Jackson and Collin Mathews reached, Aidan Longwell scorched a double down the right field line, scoring the pair. An inning later, the Flashes broke the game open, taking advantage of the first of five NIU errors to plate five runs. Justin Miknis and Mike McNamara had the big blows in the innings, each with run-scoring doubles.

That was more than enough support for Cruikshank who cruised on Friday. The lefty struck out the side in the fourth and seemed to get stronger as the game went on, striking out his final two batters in the seventh. The Flashes continued to pour it on, getting solo homers from Josh Johnson and Jake Casey, the latter of whom now has three homers in his last two games.

The win runs the Flashes win streak to seven as they sit at 9-4 on the season and more importantly, 1-0 in MAC play. NIU drops to 3-10 on the season and 0-1 in conference. The two teams will meet again tomorrow, first pitch has been moved up to 1 p.m. ET.