Kent State University
Miami (OH)
Flashes Head to Oxford for Weekend Series with Miami
4/20/2023 3:46:00 PM | Baseball
OXFORD- The Golden Flashes will head to western Ohio to face Miami (OH) in a key three-game weekend conference series.
At 12-3, the Flashes have a 1.5 game lead in the Mid-American over Ohio University, at 7-11 Miami is in striking distance of the top four, sitting 3.5 games back of Ball State and Central Michigan.
Kent State is riding an eight-game win streak heading into the series. The Flashes swept Akron last weekend and held off a rally from the Tiffin Dragons in a 15-12 win on Wednesday. Kent State leads the MAC with a .307 team batting average after Wednesday's outburst and the 4.02 staff ERA is also a league best. Aidan Longwell had another three hits on Wednesday, upping his average to a stout .434 on the season. While Longwell continues to lead the MAC, the MAC leader board is littered with Golden Flashes. There are four Flashes in the top nine in runs scored in the MAC and five in the top 10 in doubles. Kent State as a team ranks seventh nationally with 92 two-baggers.
They will face a Miami staff led by a pair of tough starters. Connor Oliver and Kenten Egbert rank amongst the leaders in ERA, batting average against and batters struck out. Oliver is schedule to throw in game one of the series with Egbert to follow in game two. The Flashes will look to get into the Miami bullpen who has a collective ERA over nine. Walks have been the issue with the staff as a whole granting over six free passes per game. On the flip side, the staff is averaging well over a strike out per inning.
The Kent State staff goes measure for measure with the top of Miami's rotation. Ben Cruikshank leads the MAC with a 2.96 ERA and holding hitters to a .178 average. Joe Whitman is right behind him with a 3.00 ERA, a .229 batting average against and is third in the MAC with 61 strikeouts. Mitchell Scott has been lights out in the bullpen, leading the MAC with nine saves and holding hitters to a meager .117 average.
The staff will face a RedHawks offense that hits .257 as a team and .250 in MAC play. Ryland Zaborowski and Cooper Weiss are the leaders and in the middle of the order. The duo are tied with a team-best 36 RBI with Zaborowski leading the team with 14 homers. Miami is right behind Kent State with 84 doubles but do lead the MAC in strikeouts.
The weekend series will be streamed on the RedHawk's YouTube channel. Live stats will also be provided, the links are available on the baseball schedule page. As of now, the series is set for a 5pm first pitch on Friday, 3pm on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday. Weather could force a change in the schedule, all updates will be on Kent State Sports dot com and Kent State Baseball social media.
The Flashes return home on Tuesday to face Ohio State with a 6 p.m. scheduled first pitch from Schoonover Stadium.
