Kent State’s baseball team traveled to Bowling Green, losing five of its last seven games and 8-9 on the road going into the weekend Mid-American Conference matchup with the Falcons. 

Over the weekend, KSU scored 15 runs, limiting BG to three en route to a three-game sweep. 

Kent State improves to 21-10 overall and is second in the conference at 9-3. 

The Falcons fall to 11-17 on the season and find themselves in a four-way tie for sixth place at 6-9. 

Ball State (23-8, 10-2 MAC) is first, and Northern Illinois (6-24, 3-9 MAC) is last. 

With the win on Sunday, coach Jeff Duncan joined Rick Rembielak (1994-2004) and Scott Stricklin (2005-2013) as the only coaches in program history with 300 wins. 

Game 1

Kent State opened the series with a 1-0 victory on Friday. 

Redshirt senior pitcher Ben Cruikshank started the game for the Flashes, pitching 6.1 innings, striking out six batters and allowing five hits.

He is now 4-0 on the season and has totaled 51 strikeouts over a team-high 41.2 innings. 

Graduate student pitcher Mitchell Scott, who has a team-low ERA (0.74), earned his fifth save of the season, allowing one hit over 2.2 innings. 

The Flashes were limited to two hits by the Falcon pitching staff, but after an error in the fourth innings led to a two-out single by junior first baseman Aidan Longwell plated his team-leading 45th RBI of the season. 

Game 2

After scoring 10 or more runs for the first time since March 20, the Flashes defeated Bowling Green 10-1. 

Every batter who recorded an at-bat for KSU recorded at least one hit, and six players totaled one or more RBIs. 

Kent State started the game by hitting two home runs, leading to a four-run first inning. 

Junior infielder Kyle Jackson led off the game with his first home run of the season. Three batters later, Longwell connected on his sixth homer, making the score 3-0. 

Sophomore outfielder Jake Casey was hit by a pitch and then followed by a double from senior outfielder Josh Johnson; the score was now 4-0. 

Graduate student Collin Mathews, who recorded three hits Saturday, hit his fifth home run in the second inning, extending the lead to 5-0. 

In the top of the fifth inning, senior infielder Mack Timbrook recorded a two-run double. Casey hit his team-leading eighth homer of the season in the seventh, as the score was now 8-1. 

Mathews recorded the final scoring play for the Flashes with a two-run double in the seventh, making the score 10-1. 

KSU used three pitchers in the game, as junior pitcher Joe Whitman got the start, going six innings, striking out five on two hits allowed. He is now 4-0 on the season. 

Freshman pitcher Ciaran Caughey made his third appearance, striking out all three batters to end the game. 

Game 3

After going 2-for-4 Saturday, Jackson added three more hits in the series finale defeating Bowling Green 4-2. 

Duncan became only the third coach in program history to record 300 wins. 

“I’m just honored to be apart of such a great program. So much history and tradition of winning,” Duncan said on his personal Twitter. “I can’t thank my administration, coaching staff, ex and current players enough for a great journey. Let’s keep it going!”

Both teams would connect on first innings homers Sunday, as Jackson led off the game with a home run for consecutive games. 

The game would remain tied 1-1 until the sixth inning. 

Jackson hit a leadoff double, and with the bases loaded and nobody out, Longwell hit a sacrifice fly to left field scoring, breaking the tie; the score was now 2-1. 

KSU added two more runs in the seventh inning as Jackson drove in his second run of the game. 

After two singles and consecutive walks by the Falcons in the bottom of the eighth inning, the score was now 4-2. 

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the BG batter rifled a ball down the third base line, and Jackson dove and fired the ball to the first basemen ending the game. 

Back at Home

After a four-game road trip, the Flashes will return to Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium, taking on Pittsburgh. 

The Panthers are 14-15 on the season and defeated KSU 8-3 on March 22. 

First pitch is Tuesday at 6 p.m. 

Jacob Shondel is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].