Kent State University
Lake Erie College
Flashes Welcome in Lake Erie College Storm for Mid-Week Matchup
3/14/2023 2:24:00 PM | Baseball
KENT- Kent State continues its homestand on Wednesday, welcoming in the Lake Erie College Storm for a mid-week matchup.
The Flashes come into the contest winners of nine straight after sweeping Northern Illinois over the weekend. It was also the second-straight week the Flashes swept the conference awards with Ben Cruikshank repeating as the Pitcher of the Week and Justin Miknis earning Player of the Week honors.
Kent State's offense has been firing on all cylinders, scoring 62 runs in four games last week in wins over Youngstown State and Northern Illinois. As a result, the Flashes lead the MAC with a .313 team batting average and 9.6 run per game average. Aidan Longwell leads the MAC with 26 runs batted in, thanks in part to a conference-best eight doubles. Justin Miknis leads the conference with 28 base hits and the trio of Collin Mathews, Longwell and Miknis, the Flashes 2-two-three-four hitters are all in the top-10 in average in the MAC.
They will face a Storm staff that has posted a 9.00 earned run average as a team. The Flashes will likely face a live bullpen day led by Zach Saffell who has led the staff with a 3.86 earned run average and a .245 batting average against. Offensively, Israel Espinosa leads the squad with a .327 average and leads the team with nine driven in. As a team, Lake Erie College is hitting .218 as a team and averaging a little over three runs a contest.
The Kent State staff has pitched to a 4.27 earned run average and hold hitters to a .216 average. The staff has struck out better than a hitter an inning, posting 157 punchouts through 135 innings. Look for Kent State to get multiple pitchers some innings during Wednesday's contest.
First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. with a free stream provided with Dan Griffin on the call. Live stats will also be available, links to both can be found on the baseball schedule page. Wednesday's game is the first of a four-game week for the Golden Flashes as the Golden Griffins of Canisius come to town for a weekend series that starts on Friday afternoon.
