Flashes Slide Past Dolphins in 16 Inning Marathon | Dominic Arevalos Twitter
Flashes Slide Past Dolphins in 16 Inning Marathon | Dominic Arevalos Twitter
JACKSONVILLE, FL- Kent State broke open a 6-6 tie in the 16th with a four-run frame and evened the opening series of the season with a 10-6 win over Jacksonville on Saturday.
The Flashes got another tremendous start on Saturday with Joe Whitman tossing five scoreless innings of one-hit, 11 strikeout baseball. The Purdue transfer left with a 3-0 lead in his debut.
Kent State struck with one in the first and two in the fourth to jump out to an early lead. Aidan Longwell drilled a double down the right field line, scoring Josh Johnson. In the fourth, Josh Mrozek kept his timely hitting going, shooting a two-out, two-run single to left to make it 3-0.
It would stay 3-0 into the seventh when the Dolphins would rally for three runs on three hits in the frame. An inning later, Mack Timbrook answered with a two-run double to right and came into score on a Kyle Jackson single as the Flashes re-took a three-run lead.
Again, the Dolphins would come back, plating one in the eighth and two more in the ninth to tie the game at six and send it to extra innings.
Neither team would do much in extra innings. The Flashes would get runners into scoring position in the 13th but Kyle Jackson would get throw out at home on a double steal and the Flashes would come up empty in the frame.
In the 16th, the Flashes took advantage of five walks, including two with the bases loaded to break the 6-6 tie. Kyle Jackson would follow with a two-run single and make it a 10-6 ball game with a four-run frame.
Freshman Jordan Kolenda came into close things out with a three-up, three-down 16th and capped a tremendous effort out of the Kent State bullpen in extra innings. Four relievers combined for six shutout innings, allowing only one hit and a pair of walks.
The win marks the longest game for Kent State since the 2012 regional win over Kentucky that lasted 21 innings. The two sides will have the rubber match tomorrow starting at noon with lefty Eric Chalus going for the Flashes and Jacksonville's starter yet to be named.
Original source can be found here.
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