GREENSBORO, NC – Kent State hit four home runs en route to a 19-6 victory over UNC Greensboro on Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Michael Wall paced the Spartans (0-3) at the plate as the sophomore went 3-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
The Golden Flashes (3-0) were led by first baseman Greg Rohan who hit two home runs on the afternoon, including a grand slam in the top of the seventh inning.
Kent State hit two singles, a triple and took advantage of a UNCG error to jump out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning.
The Spartans would fight back in the bottom half of the inning after Pedro Leon led off with a double down the left field line. After Leon advanced to third on a ground out to second, Ray Quinones singled to right field to push Leon across the plate and pull the Spartans within 3-1.
UNCG would make it 3-2 in the bottom half of the second inning. Wall and Raymond Frias hit back-to-back singles to start off the inning and freshman Trevor Edwards hit a sacrifice fly to score Wall from third, but that was as close as the Spartans would get on the afternoon.
The Golden Flashes plated two more runs in the top of the third inning after RBI singles by Jared Humphreys and Jared Bartholomew to make the score 5-3 in favor of the visitors.
Kent State would make the score 8-3 in the fourth inning after back-to-back home runs from Rohan and Jason Patton. After Anthony Gallas walked, Rohan stepped to the plate and hit his first home run of the afternoon over the left field wall before Patton hit one out to right field.
The Spartans scored again in the bottom of the fourth after Michael Wall led off the inning with a double to left center. After advancing to third on a passed ball, Wall scored on a Frias ground out to the second baseman.
In the seventh inning with the Golden Flashes holding an 11-3 advantage, Kent State scored four more runs on the grand slam by Rohan. Corey Hindel led off the inning with a walk and Brad Winter followed that up with a single. A walk to Ben Klafczynski loaded the bases before Rohan hit a towering shot over the center field wall.
Kent State scored four runs again in the eighth inning after Bartholomew led off the inning with a double and scored on a Tyler Martin home run. The Golden Flashes would go on to string together three singles and a walk to plate two more runs in the inning to build a 19-3 lead.
The Spartans would start the bottom of the eighth with two walks and two hit by pitches to score another run and have the bases loaded. Wall singled to left field to score one more run before Joey Frabasile hit a sacrifice fly to fight field to score the Spartans' third run of the inning and make the final score 19-6.
UNCG returns to the diamond on Wednesday afternoon as they travel to Campbell for a 4 p.m. contest at Taylor Field.
AGATE
No. 18 Kent State 19, UNC Greensboro 6
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Kent State……………302 303 440 - 19 18 0 (1-0)
UNC Greensboro...... 110 100 030 - 6 6 5 (0-1)
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Pitchers: UNC Greensboro – Greg Martin, Mark Peterson, Wes McBride, Adam Daufeldt, Zach Howell, Zach Furl. Kent State – Brad Stillings, Steve Ross, Brannon Belair, Brett Weibley.
Win-Brad Stillings (1-0) Loss-Mark Peterson (0-1) T-3:21 A-325
HR: Kent State – Greg Rohan 2 (2), Jason Patton (2), Tyler Martin (1).
- UNCG -
