The Kent State Flashes baseball team played from behind most of the week and were saved against Purdue on Tuesday by late-inning heroics.

There was no such magic against Illinois on Wednesday.

Even still, the Flashes were able to leave Illinois with an even record and a positive look on upcoming conference play.

Game 1: Tuesday, March 24th

Kent State 4, Purdue 3

Kent State (10-10, 1-2 MAC) traveled to Purdue on Tuesday to take on the Boilermakers in their first mid-week game of the season.

Senior Tommy Monnot played the role of hero against Purdue when he bashed a three-run home run in the sixth inning to put the Flashes in the lead and eventually to victory.

Prior to that, Kent State was down 3-1.

“It was good, tough win on a colder night,” coach Jeff Duncan said. “It was good (for) our offense (to) get 12 hits and Tommy have a breakout game.”

The Flashes were rattled by a slow start. They did get on the board first in the third inning off an RBI single by junior Zarley Zalewski. But Purdue was able to answer back with three runs of their own.

Freshman Eli Kraus made his first pitching start of the season and went three innings, giving up two earned runs off five hits.

Junior Eli Martin (1-0) also pitched two innings and was eventually credited with the win.

The Flashes were also able to manage 12 hits off of the four runs they scored. Freshman Tim Dalporto led the team with three hits, while three other players managed two.

Game 2: Saturday, March 25th

Illinois 9, Kent State 4

A late inning rally just wasn’t enough for Kent State on Wednesday as they fell to No.17 Illinois in Illinois.

“They just jumped on us too early and with a team that good, you can’t let that happen,” Duncan said.

Illinois knocked 10 hits off of sophomore Jared Skolnicki (2-2) and score three earned runs in 4.1 innings of work.

In fact, Illinois jumped to an early lead by scoring four runs in the first five innings of play.

Senior Jeff Revesz continued his solid play, leading the team in hits with three.

Kent State had Thursday off before coming home to play Eastern Michigan for the first of a three-game series and four-game homestand on Friday.

Contact Andrew Bugel at [email protected].