Saturday’s Baseball Results
Kent State 11, Northern Illinois 10
Ball State 3, Miami 2
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
Kent State 11, Northern Illinois 10
Boxscore
DEKALB, Ill. – The Kent State University baseball team (17-19, 6-6 MAC) completed a 11-10 come-from-behind victory over Northern Illinois (12-26, 8-6 MAC) Saturday afternoon at Ralph McKinzie Field. Redshirt sophomore Ben Carew came up with a two-run double to give Kent State its only lead of the day in the top of the ninth and paced the offense, going 4-for-6 with a home run and two doubles.
The Flashes fought an uphill battle the entire day, falling behind 1-0 in the second inning and trailing by as many as five runs in the game.
Kent State tied the game in the top of the third with an RBI-single by junior Cam Touchette, however the Huskies put up four runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 5-1 lead.
The Flashes gained momentum in the next frame, tying the game for the second time in as many innings of work. Freshman Collin Mathews rocketed an RBI-double down the left field line to score senior Kian O'Brien, who led off the inning with a one-out double. Redshirt sophomore Alex Ronnebaum then pulled a three-run long ball over the fence in right field.
The Huskies responded in the bottom of the fourth, regaining the lead on a two-run single through the left side. Northern Illinois added three runs in the sixth to extend its lead to 10-5.
Carew launched a two-run, two-out home run to right center in the top of the seventh to cut the deficit to 10-7.
Down to its final three outs, Kent State loaded the bases as O'Brien, senior Pavin Parks and junior Patrick Ferguson each walked to lead off the inning. Ronnebaum came up with another big hit, scoring O'Brien and Parks on a single through the right side. Following an NIU pitching change, Carew recorded the game-winning hit with a two-run double down the left field line, giving the Flashes its only lead of the game 11-10.
Parks transitioned in to pitch in the bottom of the ninth and closed the door on the Huskies to pick up the save as the Flashes walked away with the victory and tied the series at 1-1.
Redshirt senior Chris Martin (1-1) earned his first win of the season on the mound, pitching 3.0 scoreless innings of relief. The veteran allowed just three batters to reach base while striking out two. Junior John Matthews started on the mound, going 3.1 innings and striking out five while junior Zach Schultz added 1.2 innings out of the bull pen.
The Kent State offense notched 12 hits on the day with Carew and Ronnebaum accounting for nine of the Flashes' 11 runs. Carew collected four hits with four RBIs and Ronnebaum knocked in five runs on two hits, including his fifth home run of the season. O'Brien and Mathews each added a pair of hits apiece and Parks crossed home plate three times.
The Flashes will face Northern Illinois in a rubber match to conclude the series in DeKalb, Ill. on Sunday, April 21 at 1 p.m. EST.
Ball State 3, Miami 2
Boxscore
OXFORD, Ohio - Battling a rainy forecast and the team atop the MAC standings, the Ball State baseball team made the clutch play to finish Friday's suspended game with a 3-2 victory.
The game picked up in the Ball State 6th with a runner on 3rd and 2 outs. In the 7th, Ball State took advantage of Miami miscues to strike for 3 runs. Wiliam Baker reached on an error and scored before Noah Navarro delivered the big hit, a 2-run single through the right side that plated Mack Murphy and Chase Sebby to make it 3-0.
The Cardinals (24-13, 8-3) took that lead into the bottom of the 9th before Miami fought back. BSU led 3-1 and had the home team down to its final strike when Reid Nordberg singled home a run to make it 3-2. The game-tying run was on 3rd but Nick Floyd left him there, getting a groundout to end the game. Floyd finished the final 0.2 for his 2nd save of the year.
The weather got in the way of what was a classic Friday night pitcher's duel, with Drey Jameson striking out 9 while allowing just a single hit over 5 innings. He threw 68 pitches (42 strikes) and walked just 2 batters. Jameson's battle was with Miami's Sam Bachman, who threw 5.2 no-hit innings when rain shut down play on Friday evening. Kyle Nicolas took over the suspended game on Saturday to capture the win. Nicolas got 10 outs and struck out 5.
The win brings Ball State to within 2 half-games of Miami (29-8, 10-3) in the win column.
The MAC's top teams will play a doubleheader Sunday at noon.
