Kent State’s baseball team extended its win streak to 13 games in a row after winning all four games last week.

Kent State scored 56 runs combined and 86 in its last five home games prior to the start of Wednesday’s game. 

KSU is now 15-4 overall and 3-0 in the conference while staying undefeated at home with an 8-0 record. 

Junior utility player Aiden Longwell finished the week on a high note, earning his second Mid-American Conference Player of the Week this season. He drove in 14 runs over the four-game span. He now leads the NCAA in RBI’s with 40. Longwell also tossed three perfect innings on the mound. 

 Wednesday, March 15

The last time Kent State won 10 games in a row was during the 2012 season. On Wednesday afternoon, the Flashes pushed their win streak to 10 games after shutting out Lake Erie College 7-0.  

The last time KSU played Lake Erie College was in 2016 as the Flashes got the win 9-1. 

KSU led the conference in slugging percentage at .495, but both teams were scoreless through the first three innings to start the game. 

Junior pitcher Aiden Longwell started for the Flashes as LEC went three up and three down to open the first inning.

Longwell made quick work striking out the side in the second to get the Flashes back on offense. 

He continued to make quick work, striking out the side again in the top of the third, sitting down nine straight Lake Erie batters with seven total strikeouts. 

Longwell got pulled from the mound and moved to DH in the fourth. Sophomore pitcher Peyton Cariaco came in relief walking two as that would be all LEC could do in the top of the fourth inning. 

Kent State broke the score in the bottom of the fourth with two runs on two hits. Freshman catcher Brody Williams singled to left to get the inning started followed by senior outfielder Josh Mrozek with a single to get two runners on. 

Sophomore infielder Connor Ashby put down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position. Jackson walked to give Mathews another opportunity for an RBI, where he drew a walk, scoring Williams. Mrozek was able to score from Longwell’s groundout.

KSU tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fifth off a Mrozek sacrifice fly to score his second RBI of the game, scoring senior infielder Mack Timbrook. Johnson scored on a wild pitch to make the score 4-0 after five innings of play. 

Johnson singled to right and advanced to second on a throwing error which allowed Timbrook and senior catcher Justin Miknis to score and extend the lead to 6-0. Williams doubled to left to drive in Johnson for the final run of the game. 

Peyton got the win in relief in just two innings pitched allowing two hits and two walks. 

Friday: Game One

KSU hosted a three-game series at Schoonover Stadium against Canisius Griffins with a doubleheader on Friday and one game on Monday. The Flashes swept the Griffins to make it four-consecutive sweeps this season. 

In game one of the doubleheader, Kent State won 17-4 in seven innings of play. 

Canisius struck first in the opening frame, scoring three runs. KSU went scoreless in its bottom half of the inning as the Griffins led 3-0 after one. That would be all from Canisius as the Flashes took over, scoring four runs in the second inning and five in the third. 

Johnson started it off for the Flashes in the second with a two-run homer followed by Longwell with a two-run single to give the Flashes a 4-3 lead. 

Timbrook doubled to left, scoring junior infielder Michael McNamara to kick off the scoring in the third. Freshman Kolton Schaller added to the lead with a two-run single to center, making it 7-3. Mrozek then hit a two-run shot to right as the Flashes led 9-3 after three innings of play. 

In the fourth, KSU continued with a home run ball from Miknis to right, extending the lead to 10-3. 

KSU had its biggest inning in the sixth, scoring six runs with RBI’s from Johnson, Jackson and Longwell as each of them doubled to right, going back-to-back-to-back. Longwell finished with six RBI’s in this game. Redshirt senior Ben Cruikshank got the start and the win, moving his record to 3-0. He finished on four innings of work with five strikeouts, surrendering three hits on three earned runs. 

Game Two 

Kent State won the second game, scoring the most runs in the week with a final of 21-3 on 15 hits as a team. 

Game two started out almost identical to the first game as the Griffins struck first again in the first inning with three runs. Kent State went scoreless in the bottom of the first and in the second inning.

The Flashes then scored eight runs in the third inning, going up 8-3. The Flashes took advantage of five walks as Mathews cleared the bases on a double to right center. Mrozek, Mathews, McNamara, Timbrook and Williams all had RBI’s in the inning.

Kent State tacked on five more runs in the fourth inning and seven runs in the fifth and added one more in the sixth. 

Every player that batted, either scored a run or drove in a run. Six players in the lineup had multi-RBI games.

Junior pitcher Joe Whitman got the win going for five innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits with eight punchouts. Junior pitcher Benny Roebuck came into relief recording four strikeouts in two innings pitched on seven batters faced. 

Monday

The two teams were back at it for the series finale on Monday afternoon. Kent State secured the win defeating Canisius 11-2.

The Flashes drew first to start this game for the first time in the series, recording one run in the first and three runs in the second inning and just one in the third. KSU had a lead of 5-0 going into the fourth inning. 

Canisius got its first run across from sophomore outfielder Cole Sebastian homering down the left field line. 

KSU tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning from Williams and Longwell. Another three more runs were scored by the Flashes in the seventh as Longwell drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and Mathews stole third then scored on an error. 

Sophomore pitcher Eric Chalus got the nod to start this game as he went five-and-a-third innings pitched, fanning a season high seven batters while just allowing one earned run on four hits. 

With the sweep the Griffins fell to 3-11 overall and have yet to play a conference game. Canisius is now just 1-8 on the road.

On The Road

Kent State hits the road for a busy week. The Flashes are back at it on Wednesday to face Pitt.

Pitt is coming off a loss to North Carolina as the Panthers are 8-9 overall and 1-3 in the conference with a 1-1 record on their home field.

First pitch is at 3 p.m. 

Kyle Kuchta is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].