The Kent State baseball team made headlines this week as junior pitcher Andy Ravel and junior infielder Conner Simonetti both earned the Mid-American Conference player of the week awards for the first time each in the 2016 season.

During one of the three weekend games—in of Ravel’s seven innings—the junior tossed six scoreless innings that saw eight strikeouts and eight hits allowed. Only two runs were scored in his only bad inning.

Saturday’s start was Ravel’s second great start in a row, with the first of the two coming last weekend against the University of Toledo, where the junior flamethrower allowed two runs. One of the runs was earned with nine hits allowed.

On the season, Ravel has struggled to contain the opposing batters. But his last two outings have shown exactly why he is the Flashes’ No. 2 starter, where—even though he allows hits—they almost never cross home plate. 

Simonetti, the other award-winner for the Flashes, has torn it up all season-long by leading Kent State with nine home runs.

Over the weekend Simonetti proved he’s a huge bat for this line-up, going 6-14 and adding on eight more runs batted-in to his season total of 30.

The junior slugger from New York also added three more home runs to his season total with two coming on Sunday and the other coming on Friday. 

Simonetti and Ravel both helped the Flashes continue their success in the MAC, totaling their conference record to 9-3 on the season. 

Ravel’s next start will come Saturday when the Flashes drive down to Athens for a three-game set against the Ohio University Bobcats, who currently sit at a 16-19 record with a 5-7 conference record.

Zach Harley is a sports reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected]