Kent State University
Ball State
Flashes Host Cardinals to Close Regular Season
5/15/2024 1:42:00 PM | Baseball
KENT- Kent State wraps up the regular season this week, hosting Ball State in a pivotal MAC series starting on Thursday night at Schoonover Stadium.
The final series of the regular season moves up a day with the conference tournament starting next Wednesday. Both teams come in at 16-11 in MAC play and have clinched a spot in next week's tournament. This series will play a big role in seeding as both teams can finish anywhere between second and sixth. The top two seeds in the tournament will get a bye to the second round of the tourney.
The Flashes come into the weekend off a sweep of the rival Zips, Ball State took two of three from Central Michigan during their senior weekend. The teams have striking similar team stats through 27 games. The Cardinals have a slight advantage in average (.292-.283) but the Flashes have the advantage in on-base percentage and runs scored. The Flashes have the better team earned-run average, but Ball State leads the MAC in strike outs.
Ball State is led by a balanced offense with four players over 20 RBI through 27 MAC games. Michael Hallquist and Hunter Dobbins have supplied the power, hitting 13 and 11 homers, respectfully. Merritt Beeker is the top arm on the mound, going 6-0 in nine starts and struck out 13 over seven innings in a win over CMU last time out.
Josh Johnson leads an offense that has five players with 20-plus RBI in MAC play. Johnson is among the MAC leaders in average, homers, RBI and steals. On the mound, Peyton Cariaco is coming off a Pitcher of the Week honor and leads the squad with four saves in league play. The lefty is holding batters to a .241 average and owns a 1.99 ERA over 22.2 innings.
Thursday's game will start at 6 p.m. and will be fan appreciation night with giveaways and fan interaction all game long. Friday's game will start at 3 p.m. with a pre-game graduation ceremony for the graduating student-athletes. The regular season finale on Saturday starts at 1 p.m. with a pre-game senior day ceremony taking place starting around 12:30.
All three games will have a free live stream with Dan Griffin and Chase Cotner on the call and live stats will be available for all games. Links to the streams and the stats are on the baseball schedule page. The Flashes will next be in action in the 2024 MAC Tournament in Avon, Ohio, information on times and opponent will be available Saturday evening.
