The Kent State baseball team looked to continue its offensive onslaught and conference play success when the Toledo Rockets came to town for a three-game series. 

The team did just that, sweeping the Rockets and outscoring them 20-5. Pitching, however, really took massive strides and had its best weekend yet.

Friday 

Redshirt sophomore Gavin Jones would draw the start for the Flashes and have arguably his best start of the season, pitching into the eighth, striking out and limiting the Rockets to two hits, one of which was a home run for his only mistake of the day. 

“Gavin set the tone for the weekend,” coach Jeff Duncan said.

In the first inning, he struggled to command his pitches, walking the bases loaded before getting a much needed double play ball started by junior shortstop Luke Matthews.

In the third, the Rockets would jump ahead on a leadoff home run from senior Caden Konczak.  This would be the one mistake Jones would make in the first seven innings, as it was his only hit allowed.

In the fifth inning, the Flashes would finally get something going. They loaded the bases, which knocked freshman Brady Sasse out of the game. Then, with two outs, senior right fielder Jake Casey would single through the hole to drive in two runners and give the Flashes a 2-1 lead.

In the sixth inning, the Flashes would add a run when the Rockets were unable to complete the double play, which resulted in junior catcher Brody Williams scoring. 

In the seventh, Jones continued his splendid outing by striking out the leadoff hitter and getting two weakly hit balls to finish off what was an incredible outing. Freshman utility player Sawyer Solitaria added one last RBI when he singled in Casey making it 4-1.

The Rockets would add one last run off of senior closer Peyton Cariaco, but it was too late, as the Flashes took this ballgame by a score of 4-2.

The win went to Jones with the loss going to Sasse in a tight duel. Cariaco picked up his seventh save of the season.

Saturday 

Sophomore Jake Bean would draw the start, looking to build off his solid outing the previous week against Bowling Green and continue the great pitching Friday’s game brought.

He perhaps did better than Jones did the day before, absolutely stifling the Rockets to just two hits in six-and-one-third innings. He struck out seven in his outing and only gave up one run.

To start the first, Bean would immediately set the tone with two strikeouts, and the offense would immediately capitalize with Williams singling in Solitaria and freshman center fielder Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe to jump ahead 2-0.

Bean would follow up his first with an even more dominant display, nearly throwing an immaculate inning with the ninth pitch being fouled off before getting a fly out to end the second on just 10 pitches.

Casey would launch his seventh home run of the year to right in the third, leaving the park with doubt it was gone the moment it left his bat.

The Flashes would completely blow it open in the fourth, scoring five runs to make it 8-0. Matthews would start the scoring with a single to left that would drive in senior utility infielder Hunter Klotz. Kiracofe would almost immediately follow it up with a single that scored redshirt sophomore infielder Ripken Reese.

On the next pitch, graduate student  third baseman Hayden Jatczak cranked a home run that just stayed fair, being overturned from an original call of foul ball. 

The Rockets would lead off the fifth with their first hit of the game, a home run from Luke Walton, who would have both of the Rockets hits in Saturday’s contest.

The Flashes would respond with an opposite field home run from sophomore outfielder Alejandro Covas, which was his first home run since the second series of the season. This made it 9-1. 

The Flashes pitching would dominate the rest of the game with Bean pitching a scoreless sixth and striking out the first batter of the seventh for his final out of the day. Walton would knock him out of the game with the Rockets last hit of the game and just their second. Bean exited with a standing ovation and gave way to graduate student reliever Benny Roebuck, who finished off the seventh with two strikeouts.

Solitaria would tally the last run of the day with a bomb to the deepest part of the yard, making it 10-1. It was the second run he’d drive in this series.

Roebuck would mow down the Rockets with two strikeouts and a very effective changeup to nail down the win for the Flashes.

Bean would earn the win to move to 3-2 on the season. Ryan Kennedy of Toledo would be saddled with his third loss of the season.

Every starter had a hit, and the defense, which has really cleaned up their mistakes over the last few weeks, had no errors.

Sunday

Senior Eric Chalus would draw the start for Kent, hoping to reverse a trend of poor third starts from the Flashes weekend rotation.

Despite only pitching three-and-one-third innings, Chalus did reverse the trend, allowing just two runs and three hits, striking out four.

“We kind of had a plan where Chalus would go one time through the lineup and then we’d make a decision from there,” Duncan said.

The Flashes would once again strike first when Solitaria chopped a ground ball and beat the throw for an infield single that scored Jatczak and made it 1-0.

The game would stay scoreless until the fourth when the Rockets would finally get their first lead of the series when Walton would single to center and tie the game up at 1 apiece. Walton and Konzack led the Rockets with three hits each. Walton would later score on a sac fly from sophomore Cole Cahill.

The bottom half of the fourth would see the Rockets short-lived lead evaporate on a good opposite field double that scored Williams. Covas would have five hits on the weekend to raise his batting average to .414 and an OPS of 1.085.

The fifth would see Casey flex big-league-level power with an absolute moonshot to right that landed in the Allerton Sports Complex located behind Schoonover Stadium. The ball was 113 miles per hour off the bat and went 450 feet and was gone the moment the bat hit the ball.

“He’s got probably the most power in the league,” Duncan said. 

This home run also provided a fun tidbit as Casey, who’s the son of former major league standout Sean Casey, hit the home run off of junior Jackson Bergman, who’s dad Sean Bergman coughed up a home run to the elder Casey when both were in the bigs.

Later, Covas would add a run on an error when stealing third, and Casey would make one last closing statement with a double that scored Kiracofe and gave the Flashes a 6-2 lead.

When Chalus came out of the game, redshirt junior Rocco Bernadina entered. He absolutely mowed down the hitters left and right in his five-and-two-third scoreless innings of work, striking out seven Rockets, including the side in the ninth to lock down the win and series sweep. He allowed only one walk in his outing, which was the only walk of the game the Flashes allowed.

“His fastball command Sunday was really good,” Duncan said. “I thought he was working in and out.”

Paired with his slider and changeup, it allowed for an excellent outing. 

Bernadina would pick up the win with his dominant outing, with the loss going to Bergman.

The notables

Jones and Bean both had their best starts of the season over the weekend, striking out 13 batters between the two and only allowing four combined hits. Bean especially showed off great command, attacking hitters with all his pitches. While Toledo doesn’t have a single hitter over .300 for the season, it’s still a great sign that both pitched as well as they did over the weekend.

“The ball was jumping out of their hand really well,” Duncan said. “They were well into the mid-nineties, which was good to see. They’re both very talented, and they did what they’re supposed to do and dominated with that fastball.”

Saturday’s offensive effort also shined, with every starter getting at least one hit and four home runs being hit. Beyond the numbers, the approach from the team stood out with multiple players, such as Klotz, simply taking the ball the other way who had a very nice double that he shot the other way. Being able to replicate that approach will go a long way toward keeping the offense potent.

Finally, Casey also made his case for MAC Player of the Week with a dominant offensive weekend, blasting two home runs and adding two more extra base hits to go along with six runs batted in.

“I’m really proud of him because he’s worked really hard to get to this point,” Duncan said.

Up next 

After the series against the Rockets, the Flashes sit at 7-2 in conference play tied for third with Ball State. They also sit at 3 games above .500 at 14-11. The team has embarked on a six-game winning streak, as well.

The Flashes will stay at Schoonover Stadium for two midweek games. The team will first host Mercyhurst on Tuesday to begin the month of April after the game was moved from Erie, Pa., to Kent. The Flashes will then welcome in another Division III opponent in Baldwin Wallace Wednesday. First pitch for both games is scheduled for 3 p.m.

The Lakers of Mercyhurst are coming off their first sweep at the Division I level, taking three against the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks over the weekend and are looking for a season split with the Flashes.

Baldwin Wallace will be coming off a doubleheader Tuesday and are looking for their second road win in two weeks against a higher division opponent, slaying the D-II Tiffin Dragons 9-2 the previous week.

Kent State will look to continue building off this excellent pitching weekend, while the offense is in line to succeed, as they put up 18 runs the last time the Lakers came to Kent and 14 runs last week against D-III Case Western.