The Kent State baseball team continued their nine-game homestand against heated rival Akron in another edition of the Wagon Wheel rivalry series.

The series turned out to be a very competitive series with Kent State getting upset on Saturday after scratching and clawing its way back from four runs down before taking Sunday’s rubber matchup after scratching and clawing in a very similar fashion.

Friday

Redshirt sophomore Gavin Jones took the mound Friday, donning the white jerseys instead of the usual powder blues.

His outing was five innings, allowing three runs and five hits, walking four.

The Zips jumped on the Flashes, drawing a leadoff walk before hitting back-to-back home runs from Max Bowman and Caden Matlon to make it a 3-0 ballgame before fans could even settle into their seats.

In the bottom half of the inning, Kent State got the party started with a junior catcher Brody Williams double that scored senior outfielder Jake Casey and freshman utility player Sawyer Solitaria. Senior first baseman Hunter Klotz would single to tie the game up.

After the tight first inning, Kent State took control of the ball game in the third. Williams would hit a sacrifice fly to score junior infielder Luke Matthews. Graduate student utility player Hayden Jatczak would come around and score on a wild pitch. 

In the fourth, Jatczak would continue to heat up with his second hit of the day, a double to left that scored redshirt freshman outfielder Max Humphrey and made it 7-3.

Akron would trim the lead to two with two runs, but Kent State would get the runs back in the sixth with a Humphrey double, Jatczak triple that bounced off the wall and a Solitaria sac fly.

In the seventh, Kent State would put the ballgame away with a Jatczak sac fly that scored two runs including Humprhey tagging up from second.

The win would go to Jones with the loss going to redshirt junior Dawson Tourney.

Kent State, with the win, wrapped up a stretch of 90 runs in six games.

Saturday 

Sophomore Jake Bean took the mound Saturday. Uncharacteristically, he was touched up, in what was a sign of the shocker to come.

Bowman would, once again, jump on the Flashes with a home run to right that carried in the wind on a cold day.

Casey would tie the game up with a double that scored Matthews.

Unlike Friday’s contest, Akron remained poised and focused, taking the lead in the second on a sacrifice fly from Austin Lafferty. 

In the fourth, Andrew Horvath would homer on a 3-1 count, and in the fifth, Bowman and Matlon would drive in two more runs to make it a 5-1 ballgame.

Kent State, however, would not just lie down, as the potent offense would get moving when Jatczak scored on a wild pitch, Solitaria would sacrifice in Casey and sophomore Dom Kibler would come off the bench to pinch hit and drive in two runners to tie the game at five.

In the seventh, Jatczak would, once again, deliver an impact hit, hitting an absolute two-run  moonshot that wowed the crowd and gave KSU the 7-5 lead.

Akron, however, would get the last laugh, as Kent State keeping Akron in the ballgame would bite them.

Senior closer Peyton Cariaco would give up three runs on singles from Evan Bottone and Jack Poist to drive in two of the runners.

The last would come on a controversial balk call that advanced Poist with two outs in the inning.

Akron would close out the inning with a 1-2-3 inning to pull off the stunning upset and force a rubber match.

The win would go to Johnny Anservitz with the loss going to Cariaco.

The loss was the first of the homestand for the Flashes and just their third home loss of the season.

Sunday

Redshirt freshman Evan Holewinski made his first weekend start of the season.

He went two-and-two-thirds innings, allowing three runs on three hits all in the third.

“I think he did great for his first weekend start,” coach Jeff Duncan said.  “He has a really good changeup and a bright future for us.”

The game was scoreless until the third when Horvath took a changeup the other way for a triple that drove in two runners.

Kent State would get a run back on a double from Williams that scored Jatczak in the bottom half.

In the fifth, Casey would blast a towering home run to right in what’s become a big-time power spot for the senior, who has 12 on the season

The sixth inning would see the Flashes get the lead for good, as redshirt freshman infielder Landon Tiesing singled to tie the game at three, and then Jatczak would come through again in the clutch, doubling in three runs to create the 6-3 score that would be the final.

In the eighth inning, Akron would bring the tying run up to the plate after getting a single and drawing a walk. However, Williams would come through once again with a play that’s become common in recent weeks, a back pick that gets the runner dead in his tracks.

The game was comfortably closed out after that momentum-shifting play. The final was 6-3.

Senior Eric Chalus picked up the win with the loss going to Jack Fenton. Senior reliever Caden Leonard earned his first save of the season.

The notables

For the first time in the notables series, an opposing team gets recognition. Akron came to fight all weekend, jumping ahead in all three games of the series. While Friday’s contest ended in a run-rule victory for the Flashes, Saturday saw the Zips spring an upset by taking all the momentum early and playing with house money. Sunday’s game almost played out similarly, but Kent State was able to seek out a win in what was in an incredibly competitive Wagon Wheel series that Duncan believed showed Kent State’s character

Jatczak quite literally tore the cover off the ball. Every ball was hit hard en route to a weekend with eight hits and 10 runs driven in. Six of the hits went for extra bases.

“I think he’s the best hitter in the league,” Duncan said. “He made a great case for MAC Player of the Week.”

Chalus also shined in relief Sunday, pitching five scoreless innings en route to winning MAC Pitcher of the Week by the conference.

Up next

Kent State will wrap up its nine-game homestand with a matchup against non-Division I opponent Pitt-Johnstown on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.