The Kent State baseball team took an eight-game winning streak into Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and took on a three-game series against the Central Michigan Chippewas. 

The Flashes not only extended their winning streak, but did it in grand fashion, sweeping the Chippewas for their second consecutive weekend sweep.

They did so with the help of some heroics, coming from behind with two outs in the eighth to take the series opener.

Friday

Gavin Jones would draw the Friday start. The redshirt sophomore was coming off his best start of the year, going seven-plus innings of two-run ball last time out against Toledo.

He was unable to replicate the same success, going five-and-one-third innings, allowing four runs on six hits with two walks.

He would, however, pitch with the lead to start, as freshman utility standout Sawyer Solitaria took a two-strike offering up the middle to start the scoring by driving in graduate student third baseman Hayden Jatczak and making it 1-0 in the top half of the first.

In the bottom half of the second, junior catcher Aydin Wright would tie the ballgame up with a double that drove in a fellow junior teammate in Rees Campanale.

Freshman outfielder Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe would continue the Flashes’ success, hitting to all parts of the field with an RBI single the other way that drove in junior shortstop Luke Matthews.

The lead wouldn’t last long, as the next inning saw the Chippewa’s take the lead on a two out triple from Mikey Murphy that scored 2 and gave them a 3-2 lead.

The Flashes next time up would see senior infielder Hunter Klotz score on a sacrifice fly from Matthews to tie it at three.

A fielder’s choice by junior infielder Brady Krzciok would give the Chippewas the lead back.

In the eighth inning, down to just four outs left before the winning streak would be over, the heroics took over. Redshirt sophomore infielder Ripken Reese would tie the game up with a triple down the line that scored junior infielder Matt Thompson, who pinch ran for Klotz. Matthews would continue the rally with another two-strike hit that gave the Flashes a lead they wouldn’t relinquish and scored Reese. Jatczak would provide the final score with a double that made it 6-4.

Senior closer Peyton Cariaco would slam the door shut to close out the victory, which came on the late-inning rally.

Senior Caden Leonard would pick up his third win of the season with the loss going to redshirt junior Nate Ross. Cariaco would pick up his eighth save of the season.

With the win, the winning streak stood at nine games.

Saturday

Sophomore Jake Bean would take the bump, looking to also replicate his Toledo success from last outing. 

He did that and more, pitching seven scoreless innings and only allowing three hits. He also tied a season high with seven strikeouts.

The game itself was low-scoring, compared to previous Kent State games, with the Flashes jumping ahead 2-0 on a double from sophomore outfielder Alejandro Covas that would provide the bare minimum offense needed to win the game, with Flashes getting a shutout.

They added two insurance runs in the eighth on a single from junior catcher Brody Williams that scored Jatczak and a Klotz single that scored Solitaria, which made the 4-0 score that would be the final.

On the pitching side of things, Bean would erase both of the biggest threats he would encounter, escaping a two on, no out jam in the third and a runner on third situation in the fifth.

In the bottom of the eighth, graduate student reliever Benny Roebuck would allow two singles that would allow Cariaco to come in and pitch in a save situation, despite the 4-0 lead, as the tying run was on deck when he entered. Cariaco would again shut the doors down to finish off the shutout.

Bean would pick up his fourth win of the season with redshirt junior AJ Kostic picking up the loss. Cariaco would save his second consecutive outing to earn a ninth save.

Sunday 

Senior Eric Chalus would earn the start, as he’s solidly locked himself into the third rotation spot with solid outings since reentering the rotation.

He would have his longest start of the season on Sunday, going five innings, scattering two earned runs around four hits. 

The Chippewas would jump ahead with two in the first. Wright would score on a fielder’s choice, and junior infielder Aaron Piasecki would steal home when Chalus’ pickoff attempt to first failed.

In the second, Wright would add another run on a single to left.

The Flashes would not get on the board until the fourth, where they would produce a five-spot that would give them the lead for good. Senior outfielder Jake Casey would get the party started with a home run, his ninth of the year, to get the Flashes on the board. Matthews would add a second tally with a productive groundout that drove in Solitaria. Reese then tied the game with a double that scored Klotz, Covas singled in Reese and Kiracofe singled in Covas. 

Covas would then triple the other way to drive in Reese, who tallied three runs this weekend.

Matthews then made it seven unanswered with his second hit of the day that drove in Williams.

Piasacki would add a run, but it was too late, as the Flashes added two garbage time runs to make the final score 9-4, completing the sweep and making it 11 wins in a row.

Chalus would earn the win with the loss going to redshirt sophomore Jared Hansen. Redshirt junior Rocco Bernadina would earn the first collegiate save of his career with four innings of one-run ball.

The notables

Matthews shined all weekend, having at least two hits in every game with two of them being three-hit games. Overall, he was 8-12 with five runs batted in on the weekend, and he has hit in seven out of the last eight. His efforts earned him Mid-American Conference Player of the Week honors.

The bullpen also shined over the weekend, allowing just one run in nine-and-two-third innings, anchored by saves in all three games with Cariaco picking up two and the hard-throwing Bernadina picking up his first.

Offensively, the team was aggressive with three runs being batted in on the first pitch of the at bat, but more importantly, the opposite approach in two-strike situations was working, as the rally on Friday was spearheaded by multiple two-strike hits with two outs. On the weekend, six runs were driven in with two strikes.

Up next

The Flashes have improved to 19-11 and 10-2 in MAC play. They are on an 11-game winning streak, with eight of those coming in league play. Kent sits tied for first with Ball State.

The Flashes will travel to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes of Ohio State on Wednesday, April 9. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.  

The Buckeyes are 8-20 overall and are coming off getting swept by the USC Trojans in a series where the Buckeyes blew multiple late-inning leads.