Friday’s Baseball Results
Kent State 10, Akron 8
Kent State 6, Akron 5
Ball State 6, Central Michigan 1
Eastern Michigan 10, Bowling Green 9
Miami 4, Ohio 3
Western Michigan 15, Northern Illinois 5
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
Kent State 10, Akron 8 -- Boxscore
Kent State 6, Akron 5 – Boxscore
AKRON- Mike McNamara capped a furious late rally with a three-run homer in the ninth in game one and Kyle Jackson parked a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth of game two, helping the Flashes down the Zips 10-8 in game one and 6-5 in the night cap.
The Friday sweep clinches a spot in the Mid-American Conference tournament, starting May 22nd in Avon, Ohio.
GAME ONE- Kent State 10 Zips 8
The home side jumped out early on Friday, scoring the game's first five runs, buoyed by a four-run third that featured a pair of homers. The Flashes got a pair back in the fourth on a two-run double to right-center from Ripken Reese. However, the Zips had an answer, scoring three more in the bottom of the inning to open up an 8-2 advantage. It stayed that way into the eighth as Rocco Bernadina slowed down the Zips' offense. In the eighth, the Flashes strung together three hits and got a sac fly and run-scoring ground out to make it a 8-6 ballgame. An inning later, Tim Orr led off the inning with an opposite-field double after he ended the eighth with a run-saving leaping grab at the left field wall. Orr scored on a Brody Williams single and went to second on a walk to Dom Kibler. McNamara then hammered a 2-1 pitch well over the left field wall to give Kent State a 10-8 lead. Peyton Cariaco made short work of the bottom of the ninth and notched his third save of the season.
GAME TWO- Kent State 6 Zips 5
The second game started similar to the first with the home side jumping out early, this time scoring two in the first and another in the second to lead 3-0. The Flashes answered back in the fourth with Brody Williams and Kolton Schaller annihilating pitched over the left and right field wall for two-run homers, giving Kent State a 4-3 lead. It was tied again in the fifth after Josh Johnson leapt for a fly ball only to see it pop loose when he hit the wall, clearing the fence for a solo homer. The Zips took the lead an inning later on a go-ahead double. The magic struck late again for the Flashes, Josh Johnson reached on a single, leading to a go-ahead two-run shot from Kyle Jackson, giving Kent State a 6-5 lead. Cariaco came into the game in the eighth, picked the tying run off base, then sent the Zips down in order in the ninth for his second save of the day and fourth of the season.
The wins moves Kent State to 25-23 on the season and 15-11 in the MAC. The Flashes will go for the sweep on Mother's Day with a 1:05 p.m. scheduled first pitch.
Ball State 6, Central Michigan 1
Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. – Merritt Beeker dominated the Central Michigan bats and Michael Hallquist powered the Ball State offense in its 6-1 series-opening win over the Chippewas on Friday afternoon at Ball Diamond.
The Cardinals (29-19-1, 15-10 Mid-American Conference) officially clinched a spot in the MAC Tournament with the triumph over the Chippewas (15-34, 6-19) combined with Northern Illinois' setback at Western Michigan.
Beeker locked in after allowing a single unearned run in the first inning, striking out 13 and allowing only three hits and a walk in 7.0 innings of work to increase his season strikeout total to 105 and improve to 7-3 on the year with a 4.66 ERA.
After the visitors scored their lone tally of the contest in the top of the first, Ball State responded with one run each in the first on a Decker Scheffler single, in the second on a Clay Jacobs RBI groundout and in the third on a Hallquist RBI double to claim a 3-1 lead.
The Cardinals extended the advantage with a Hallquist solo homer to right field in the sixth and a pair of runs in the eighth highlighted by a Blake Bevis RBI single. Sam Klein came on in relief of Beeker and notched three strikeouts in two scoreless innings for his fifth save of the year.
"Great pitching effort from Merritt Beeker and Sam Klein," head coach Rich Maloney said. "A lot of guys made contributions today."
Hallquist went 2-for-3 on the day with the home run, double, two RBI and two runs scored. The homer was his 18th of the year to claim the team lead.
Central Michigan's Ben Vitas (2-6) fired a completed game but allowed the six runs on nine hits and three walks to be hit with the loss. The Chippewas' offense was limited to four hits in the game.
Ball State and CMU are scheduled to play the middle game of the set at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday. A Senior Day ceremony will be held pregame, and there will be giveaways throughout the game for First Merchants Ballpark Day.
Eastern Michigan 10, Bowling Green 9
Boxscore
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team rallied to score three in the ninth inning and walked it off on sophomore Drew Jones' two-run double to pick up the 10-9 win over the Bowling Green State University Falcons Friday, May 10, at Oestrike Stadium.
Junior Mat Sanfilippo (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder/Niagara C.C.) (1-0) picked up the victory out of the bullpen for Eastern, recording a pivotal strikeout with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning.
At the plate, the Eagles were paced by senior Kyle Schroedele (Redding, Calif./University Prep/Crown College), who went 2-for-4 on the day with a double, a home run, a walk and three RBI.
Jones (Cleveland, Ohio/Brush/Ohio State) put together a standout day at the dish as well, going 3-for-4 with a double, a walk and two RBI. Senior Blake McRae (Armada, Mich./Romeo/Lansing C.C.) also contributed for Eastern Michigan, putting together three hits in four trips to the plate while adding a walk and an RBI.
Trailing 4-0, the Eagles first put runs on the board in the second inning. Eastern Michigan plated two runs when Schroedle left the yard with senior Cory Taylor (Shelbyville, Ind./Shelbyville) aboard.
The Eagles kept the Falcons off the board before narrowing the gap further in the third. Eastern Michigan scored once on an RBI single off the bat of Taylor, which tightened the Falcons lead to 4-3.
EMU kept the Falcons off the board before rallying to snatch a 6-4 lead in the fourth, first grabbing the lead off an RBI single from Giano Zuccaro (Middleburg Heights, Ohio/Berea Midpark/Charleston).
Eastern Michigan surrendered the lead they built in the fourth, but got back on the board in the eighth trailing 8-6. The Eagles scored once on an RBI single off the bat of McRae, bringing the score to 8-7 in favor of Bowling Green.
Bowling Green extended their lead to 9-7 before Eastern Michigan rallied to score three times in the bottom half of the ninth to claim victory, culminating in Jones' two-run walk-off double.
Miami 4, Ohio 3
Boxscore
OXFORD, Ohio— The RedHawks took down Ohio in game one of the Battle of the Bricks Friday 4-3 after seven innings of stellar defense from RHP Lukas Galdoni and a walk-off double from first baseman Evan Appelwick. The RedHawks move to 25-21 (17-11 MAC) with the win, while the Bobcats fall to 14-30 (9-16 MAC).
Western Michigan 15, Northern Illinois 5
Boxscore
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Senior center fielder Jackson Kitchen went 5-for-5 and became the first player in program history to hit for the cycle in Western Michigan's 15-5 series-opening win over Northern Illinois on Friday. The victory sealed WMU's place in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament, which will make it eight appearances in the last 12 MAC Tournaments for the Brown and Gold.
Kitchen's career-high five hits came via a double in the first, a three-run homer in the third, a single in the fifth, a triple in the sixth to complete Western Michigan's first-ever cycle, and a solo home run to cap it all off in the eighth. The senior drove in a career-high five runs for the day and tied the single-game program records for runs scored (5) and total bases (14).
Fueled by Kitchen's record-setting day, the Western Michigan offense totaled a season-high 18 hits in the contest. All nine Broncos who started the game recorded at least one hit and the first-five hitters in WMU's lineup all had multiple knocks.
Kitchen led off the bottom of the first inning with a double for the Broncos and scored the game's first run on a Dylan Nevar single. CJ Richmond followed with an RBI double and a Michael Maloney sacrifice fly made it 3-0 WMU after one.
In the second, Grady Mee hit the first of Western Michigan's five home runs in the contest, a solo shot, to extend the margin to four. Kitchen's three-run blast in the third then made it 7-0.
While the Broncos were putting up crooked numbers on the offensive end, Brady Miller was keeping NIU's bats quiet. The redshirt senior blanked the Huskies over the first six innings of the day, and at one point set down 12 in a row. Miller yielded two runs in his six-plus innings of work and racked up a season-high eight strikeouts to collect his fourth win, tying him with three others for the team lead.
Miller continued his climb up the WMU career leaderboards on Friday, passing Keith Perez (1999-03) and Billy Morrison (2006-10) to jump all the way up to second in career innings pitched with 289.2. Miller also moved past former teammate Dane Armbrustmacher (2019-23) for fourth in career strikeouts at Western Michigan with 250.
Kitchen and the offense went back to work in the fifth, with the center fielder picking up a single, advancing to third on a Sullivan double, then racing home on a wild pitch to make it 8-0.
In the sixth, Greg Budig got in on the power surge with a solo home run, his fifth of the season. Later in the frame, Kitchen completed his cycle with an RBI triple, and for the second consecutive inning, came around to score on a wild pitch.
The Huskies got their first runs of the day in the seventh, pushing across three to make it an 11-3 game.
Western Michigan rounded out its offensive fireworks with four in the eighth. Kitchen capped off his historic day with a lead-off home run, giving the Battle Creek, Mich., native his second career multi-homer game. Nevar added another RBI single, and Josh Swinehart launched a two-run shot to left center to complete WMU's scoring for the day.
