Kent State University
Youngstown State
Flashes Open Up Schoonover Tuesday Against Youngstown State
3/6/2023 3:56:00 PM | Baseball
KENT- The Golden Flashes welcome in the Youngstown State Penguins on Tuesday afternoon for the 2023 home opener and an updated 1 p.m. first pitch.
Tomorrow's game has been moved up two hours due to real feel temperatures expected throughout the afternoon. Tuesday's game opens an eight-game homestand for the Flashes that will also see Northern Illinois, Lake Erie College and Canisius come through Schoonover Stadium. It will be the first meeting between the teams since 2019 and the 95th all time, Kent state owns a 71-22-1 all-time series edge.
The Flashes come into the homestand winners of five straight after sweeping series from Murray State and UT-Martin last week. Kent State leads the MAC in runs (82), hits (114), rbi (77) and steals (24) through 11 games this year. On the mound the Flashes sport the best team ERA (4.19), strikeouts (113) and batting average against (.220).
Aidan Longwell and Ben Cruikshank were honored by the Conference as Players of the Week, leading the Flashes' offense and pitching, respectfully. Longwell hit a sizzling .524 last week and is now fourth in the MAC with a .426 average and his 20 hits and 17 RBI leads the conference.
Cruikshank tossed 6.1 shutout innings against UT-Martin and took a no-hitter into the fifth. He leads the league with a .119 batting average against and sits third in the MAC with 21 strikeouts through his first three starts.
Youngstown State comes into the game at 3-9 on the season and comes into the game off a split of a four-game set at Baylor. The Penguins were picked fourth in the six-team horizon league and went 21-36 last season. Youngstown is led on offense by Trey Law and Padraig O'Shaughnessy, who are both hitting north of .350. O'Shaughnessy leads the team with 12 driven in. The pitching staff has a team era of 8.29 with teams hitting .277 off of them.
Tuesday's game will be streamed for free on Box Cast with Tyler Henry and Dan Griffin on the call. Live stats will also be available, both links can be found on the baseball schedule page. The homestand will continue on Friday and open up conference play as Northern Illinois coming to town for a three-game series.
