The Kent State baseball team hit 10 home runs in one game against Toledo Sunday, setting a program record.
The team won game three of the series 18-12 in extra innings but lost the series against the Rockets, as Toledo took two of the three games.
“It was a tough series as a whole, but we had a really good bounce back yesterday to win a ballgame after losing two tough games,” coach Jeff Duncan said. “On Saturday, we didn’t play well – simple as that. But we did bounce back. We had 10 homers on Sunday and hopefully that is something we can build off of.”
The Flashes struggled in the Saturday doubleheader. They were outscored 23-8 and struck out 36 times.
“In game one, we struck out a lot,” Duncan said. “That guy was really good. It was good for us as coaches to grow off of it. If we can figure out our lineup against the lefty, we will move forward with that because we haven’t seen a ton of left starters.”
KSU dips below .500 again after the series loss. The team is now 16-17 overall and has an 8-7 record against Mid-American Conference opponents.
The Flashes dropped to fifth in the MAC.
“Winning that last one was really important because we’re now fifth in the league and the top six teams make it to the tournament, and ultimately, that’s the prize right there,” Duncan said. “Whoever wins the tournament goes to the NCAA regional, and for us to win that third game is huge. We need to build off of it and take that into next weekend.”
Game one (Saturday, April 13 – game one of doubleheader)
The offense was silent for game one of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Flashes had nine baserunners all game and only scored one run, which came off of a redshirt senior center fielder Josh Johnson fielder’s choice RBI.
The RBI made the score 7-1.
The starting pitcher for Kent State allowed six runs in his outing.
Redshirt junior Calvin Bickerstaff came into the game with a 3-2 record, but he would even up his record after being assigned the loss in game one of the series.
Bickerstaff pitched for five innings, allowing six runs on six hits, three walks and five strikeouts.
Even after the score was 7-1, the Rockets continued to push the pace and added five more runs to their tally in the bottom of the eighth.
The final score for game one was 12-1.
Three KSU relievers combined for three innings pitched, six hits, five walks, six runs and four strikeouts.
The 11-run loss is tied for the largest margin of defeat for the Flashes this season – it is tied with a 13-2 loss to Louisiana Tech Feb. 25.
Game two (Saturday, April 13 – game two of doubleheader)
The offense came a bit more alive in the second game, but the end result did not change – Kent State lost the game and was swept in Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Flashes were doomed from the start after falling behind 5-1 after two innings.
Graduate student pitcher Joe Miceli got the start for the Flashes in game two and was immediately pressured.
In his 5.1 innings of work, he earned five runs in the first two innings and an additional two runs later on.
He exited the game after allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits, three walks and four strikeouts in the 5.1 innings.
KSU was able to keep it close, as the gap closed to 6-4 by the end of the third inning.
Home runs from freshman left fielder Dom Kibler (solo home run – fifth of season), senior first baseman Tim Orr (two-run home run – seventh of season) and Johnson (solo home run – sixth of season) contributed to the run tally.
Kibler hit an RBI single in the fifth inning, and sophomore catcher Brody Williams hit a two-run home run to knot the game at 7-7.
The next four runs all went to Toledo, and the Rockets took the game 11-7.
“In game two, it was 7-7 late in the game, and we just never added on,” Duncan said. “A left-handed pitcher came in for them, and he shut us down for three innings. He did a really good job with game two. They ended up scoring four, and that was a difference in the game.”
After Miceli’s night was finished, the KSU bullpen allowed four hits, four runs, three walks and three strikeouts.
Despite Miceli’s early drubbing, the loss went to junior reliever Caden Leonard, who has a 0-1 record on the season.
The Flashes were outhit 14-9, and the loss clinched their sixth series loss of the season.
Game three (Sunday, April 14)
The Flashes finally broke through in the final game of the series in its second extra-innings game of the season.
The team had to come back after falling behind 9-3 early in the game.
The three runs were scored on Williams’ home run (solo home run – third of season), redshirt freshman second baseman Ripken Reese’s third home run of the season, a solo shot, and a wild pitch by Toledo’s pitcher.
The Flashes added two to the scoreboard in the top of the sixth on senior third baseman Michael McNamara’s two-run blast, his sixth of the season.
KSU pitching kept it clean in the bottom half of the inning, and the offense picked up where it left off in the seventh with a two-run home run from Williams – his second of the day and fourth of the season.
“Brody Williams had a really good series,” Duncan said. “That’s two series in a row. It’s good to see him starting to pick things up. He hit three home runs on the weekend.”
Toledo extended the lead by one run in its part of the seventh, making the score 10-7.
The Flashes had a big eighth frame, however, and took the lead with a four-run inning.
Home runs from redshirt junior right fielder Lance Macdonald (solo home run – third of season), Johnson (solo home run – seventh of season) and senior shortstop Kyle Jackson (two-run home run – sixth of season) gave KSU an 11-10 lead.
Toledo would go on to tie the game in the eighth, but Kent State regained its advantage in the ninth.
Freshman designated hitter Payton Ebbing hit his first home run of the season in the ninth, a solo shot, to give KSU a 12-11 lead. Ebbing has appeared in 11 of the team’s 33 games.
Toledo tied the game up in the bottom of the ninth on the team’s last pitch. An RBI single on a full count with two outs sent the game to extra innings.
In the tenth inning, Jackson and Macdonald struck again, as each player hit a three-run home run, which was the dagger.
“We were down 9-3 early in the game, and we had a couple of guys really step up that hadn’t played much,” Duncan said. “Lance Macdonald was one of them. Macdonald hit two homers, four RBIs. It really helped us and sparked us.”
It was Jackson’s seventh home run of the season and Macdonald’s fourth of the season.
Junior relief pitcher Peyton Cariaco (2-1) finished off the Rockets in the bottom of the tenth, earning his second win of the season.
The Flashes used three pitchers for the game, who combined for 16 hits, 12 runs, two walks and 15 strikeouts.
The team hit 10 home runs in the game, and all but one run was scored by using the long ball.
The 10 home runs are a program record, and the team shattered the previous record of seven home runs in a game against Akron in 2022.
“It was a special day,” Duncan said. “I would certainly like to repeat, but that’s a big feat. I have never seen it – between coaching and playing, I’ve ever seen 10 home runs in a game, which is cool.”
Macdonald, Jackson and Williams hit two home runs each in game three.
“It was a great comeback,” Duncan said. “Guys were getting good pitches to hit and doing the most with it – it was a really good approach. Jackson, Macdonald and Brody Williams had really good days.”
Looking ahead
KSU starting pitchers combined for 22 runs allowed, 26 hits, seven walks and 16 strikeouts in 15.1 innings.
“The wind was blowing out, and in the first two days, they took advantage of it, and then we took advantage of it,” Duncan said. “At the end of the day, we’re playing at the same park. I don’t think we took advantage of it as much as they did on the first day. Sometimes, when you’re on the road, you don’t realize where you’re at at times, and it took a little bit to get our feet underneath us. Sunday, we certainly got it.”
The Flashes have a long week ahead as the next game up for the week will be at University Park, where the team will play Penn State.
The Tuesday matchup against the Nittany Lions will begin at 5:30 p.m.
PSU is 5-7 in its last 12 games and has an 18-14 overall record to pair with its 5-7 conference record.
The projected starter for Kent State will be junior Jack Kartsonas.
Kartsonas has a 3-2 record in eight appearances on the mound this season. He will come into the game with a 7.27 ERA and has allowed 43 hits, 32 runs and five home runs in 34.2 innings of work.
However, the Big 10 competition is not over, as the Flashes will face off against Ohio State Wednesday at Schoonover Stadium before heading to DeKalb, Illinois, for a three-game weekend series against Northern Illinois.
The NIU series will run Friday-Sunday, and the Flashes will compete in five games in six days.
Duncan said the preparation for the week’s workload is “bizarre.”
“It’s a lot right now,” he said, “a lot of baseball ahead. If you love baseball, that’s what you want. It only prepares us for the weekend. The one thing is, we’re pretty banged up. We have six injuries right now, and we need some guys to step up.”
John Hilber is assistant sports editor. Contact him at [email protected].
