Midweek games can creep up on top teams, especially the games against non-Division-One opponents like the one Kent State faced on Tuesday, the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets. BW looked to be the second Non-D-I Ohio school to defeat a Mid-American Conference opponent after D-II Findlay upset Bowling Green last week.
However, the towering power of redshirt freshman Nolan Belcher and a strong bounce back from the pitching staff led the Flashes to a 16-7 win over the Yellow Jackets.
Belcher drew eyeballs from just about everyone in Schoonover Stadium when he clobbered a home run in the second inning that head coach Jeff Duncan estimated went about 480 feet.
The home run is the latest in what’s been a remarkable stretch from the highly touted catcher, who transferred in from Kentucky. Since March 13, he’s hit .516 with three home runs and 7 RBI.
“He’s gotten a lot better,” Duncan said. “Zeke’s [Pinkham] has done a great job with him at catcher … I think he’s going to be a special player for a while.”
Before Belcher teed off, his fellow catcher teammate senior Brody Williams hit a three-run home run that gave KSU a 3-2 lead after Baldwin Wallace jumped starter redshirt senior Rocco Bernadina for two runs in the first inning.
“They can swing it,” Duncan said. “They came in here 19-3. I know they are a D-III program, but they can really swing it. They hit some balls hard.”
The Yellow Jacket offense was led by senior third baseman Sean Kolenich, who went four-for-five with three runs scored and a stolen base and senior center fielder Dennis Ritlinger-Nirider went two-for-five with two doubles and a pair of RBI.
Despite allowing seven runs on 12 hits, Duncan felt the pitching staff improved in several areas that had plagued them in last week’s games.
“They kept throwing strikes,” Duncan said. “That was a big emphasis of today, because we kind of lost the strike zone in the last 4 games, where we weren’t pounding the strike zone.”
Duncan said he hopes the team can get back closer to the strikeout-to-walk ratios, such as the 13:2 ratio that led KSU over Bowling Green.
Last week, the staff walked 10 against Pittsburgh and gave up at least seven walks in each game against Miami.
Today, they only walked one batter and struck out 10. Freshman Parker Lind picked up the first win of his collegiate career with one-and-two-thirds scoreless innings.
Offensively, KSU was led by Williams, Belcher and junior left fielder Alejandro Covas, who all homered.
Three Flashes had multiple hits, while five players reached base at least three times. Graduate first baseman Hunter Klotz and Williams lead the Flashes, getting on base five times each.
After BW cut the lead to four runs in the seventh, sophomore Sawyer Solitaria barreled a ball to center field that cleared the bases as a part of a five-run fifth inning that wrapped up the scoring for the day.
On Deck
Conference play will resume for the Flashes on Thursday as they travel to Athens, Ohio, to take on the Ohio Bobcats.
KSU will look to rebound after dropping two-out-of-three to Miami University this past weekend.
Thursday’s and Friday’s games will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday’s finale will start at 1 p.m.
With the weather continuing to stay warm, Duncan hopes to see his offense continue swinging the stick well.
“I told them I think it’s important to take our bats down there. because the weather’s warming up and that park can play very offensive,” Duncan said. “I’m looking for a lot of doubles and homers.”
Stone O’Bryant is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
