The Kent State baseball team lost on Tuesday in a road game against the Wright State Raiders. The Flashes are now 6-8 on the season, and have given up at least nine runs in five different games this season.
The Raiders were 5-8 on the season heading into the game with the Flashes and are coming off a season in which Wright State went 32-24 and lost in the Horizon League Championship.
Starting for Kent State was the right-handed redshirt junior Rocco Bernadina. Bernadina, who started in four games for KSU in 2024, made his season debut on Tuesday.
Bernadina pitched well but briefly, posting a line of one earned run on three hits in 2.1 innings of work. Bernadina allowed no walks and struck out zero batters.
The Flashes opened the scoring on a double from early-season standout junior Jake Casey. In 14 games, Casey is batting .327 with 15 runs batted in and three home runs.
The Raiders responded back with a game-tying RBI groundout, and in doing that, Wright State embarked on a run that would propel the team to a victory.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Wright State catcher Nate Manley sent a ball out to center field that put the Raiders up 3-1. This was the sophomore’s first home run of the season.
After a walk and a wild pitch issued by the Flashes that gave two runs towards the Raiders’ cause, redshirt freshman Hunter Warren shot a single up the middle to give Wright State a 7-1 lead.
The Flashes started a comeback attempt in the top of the fifth inning where grad student Hayden Jatczak doubled to bring home one run. In the same inning, the Flashes loaded the bases but only walked away with one run to keep the lead large.
After Casey singled to make it a 7-4 ballgame, the Raiders stymied the Flashes’ hopes of a comeback in the sixth inning. Warren and Manley returned, and each picked up their second RBI of the game on a single and bases loaded walk, respectively.
The Raiders would tack on two more runs on a double from freshman first baseman Cam Gilkerson, and Wright State would not look back, taking this one by a score of 11-6.
The losing decision was handed to Flashes freshman RHP Evan Holewinski with the win being handed to freshman southpaw Joey Valentine of Wright State.
Moving forward
The Flashes will play a three-game homestand starting on Friday against the Hofstra Pride. The Pride are 5-10 and have lost all six of its road games in 2025.
Through the first month of the season, the Flashes have a team ERA of 7.23. KSU has also given up eight unearned runs.
Gage Wellman is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected] or @GageWellmanKSTV on X.
