Kent State University
Mercer
Baseball Heads to Mercer for Weekend Two
2/20/2025 3:48:00 PM | Baseball
KENT- The Kent State Golden Flashes baseball team is set to continue their 2025 campaign on the road with a three-game set against the Mercer Bears.
Kent state and Mercer will meet at 4 p.m. on Friday (originally slated for 6 p.m.), 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Live stats will be available for all three contests.
About the Flashes
The Flashes are coming off an 1-2 opening weekend at the South Alabama Invitational. Kent State got an opening day win against Eastern Kentucky thanks to a strong start by Gavin Jones who pitched five innings allowing just one run on four hits while striking out five. Also against Eastern Kentucky, left-handed fireman, Peyton Cariaco, earned his first save of the season pitching the final 1.2 innings to slam the door closed.
Hayden Jatczak swung a hot bat to open his Kent State career going 5-11 at the dish over the weekend. The graduate student leads the Mid-American Conference and is tied for fourth in the nation in doubles with four. Freshman, Sawyer Solitaria, kickstarted his collegiate career off the right way clobbering two homers against South Alabama. Joining Jatczak and Solitaria with multi-hit weekends were Luke Matthews, Jake Casey, Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe, and Dom Kibler.
Weekend Rotation
Friday: Gavin Jones, RHP vs. Colton Cosper, LHP
Saturday: Eric Chalus, LHP vs. Braydon Kersey, RHP
Sunday: Jacob Bean, RHP vs. Jackson Gaspard, RHP
Scouting the Opposition
The Mercer Bears were picked tied for fourth in the 2025 preseason Southern Conference (SoCon) coaches' poll. The Bears were picked behind UNCG, Samford, Wofford, and tied with ETSU.
Mercer comes into the weekend at 3-1 on the young season taking two of three games against Milwaukee in their opening series. The Bears also took down Kennesaw State 9-4 on Wednesday night.
Offensively the Bears are led by preseason SoCon players of the year Ty Dalley. The Junior leads the team in batting average (.429), hits (6), doubles (3), runs (5), total bases (15), and slugging percentage (1.071). Mercer hit eight home runs in their opening series against Milwaukee, three of which came off the bat of Parker Lester.
Through four games the Bear's pitching staff has a combined ERA of 4.25, is limiting opponents to a .219 batting average, and is averaging over one strikeout per inning. All three projected starters went four innings in their first start of the season, Gaspard led the three with a 4.5 ERA.
On Deck for the Flashes
Weekend three sees the Flashes traveling down to Greenville North Carolina to play in the LeClair Classic. In the tournament Kent State will play Virginia Tech, Indiana State, and the host East Carolina.
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