The Kent State baseball team followed the trend of warm weather in the state of Ohio and broke out hot bats in a beatdown of the Mercyhurst Lakers by a score of 18-6. This was the home opener for the Flashes after a match scheduled for Feb. 25 against Ohio State was canceled.
Making the start for Kent State was the left-handed Eric Chalus. Chalus has struggled with command issues to start this season, but he issued no walks against the Lakers, posting a line of three runs on three hits with four strikeouts in just two innings of work.
Multiple Flashes chipped in on the mound with five pitchers coming in relief. Right-handed sophomore Gannon Wentz was given the winning decision after a solid 1.1 innings of relief work where he struck out four and allowed no one to walk or cross home plate.
The Lakers scored the first runs of the game in the first inning, taking a 3-0 lead after two RBI base hits.
Graduate student utility player Hayden Jatczak got the first run of the game for the Flashes home in the same first innings, bringing home early season star senior outfielder Jake Casey. Jatczak himself was brought home on an RBI groundout to make it a 3-2 game.
Casey then responded with an RBI of his own when he doubled home freshman shortstop Jake Robinson. This was Casey’s eighth RBI in just the first 10 games of the season.
The Flashes then went on a stellar run, featuring RBI knocks from Jatczak and junior catcher Brody Williams in the bottom of the third inning, scoring three runs to make it a 9-3 ball game.
Both teams then went on scoring runs of their own, with six total runs coming home for both teams in the fourth and sixth innings. The scoring was mounted by a home run off the bat of Kent State sophomore Dom Kibler to make it 14-5 in favor of the Flashes.
Two more Flashes brought the thunder in the seventh and eighth innings where sophomore Ripken Reese and Jatczak each hit home runs.
Moving forward
The Flashes are now 4-6 on the season after an eventful first 10 games. Through 10, the Flashes have scored at least four runs in nine contests.
However, KSU’s pitching staff has had troubles, which was especially present in the Flashes series against Mercer where it scored at least five runs in all three games but lost all three.
Casey and Jatczak have assumed their roles as the Flashes’ best bats early on. Both hitters are above the 1.000-mark in OPS and have collected at least eight RBIs.
The Flashes next contest will be the first of three home games against the Northern Illinois Huskies on Friday. The Huskies are 6-4 on the young season and have won four straight ball games.
Gage Wellman is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected] or @GageWellmanKSTV on X.
