Kent – The Kent State Golden Flashes defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes 10-5 Wednesday night before a sold-out Schoonover Stadium crowd. After the Buckeyes took an early 2-0 first inning lead, the Golden Flashes came back with six runs in the bottom of the second.
“Collin Mathew, Mike McNamara, (St. Ignatius Alum) guys like that in that inning, certainly helped get us going offensively and really changed the momentum in the game,” said Kent State Head Baseball Coach Jeff Duncan.
The 2020 St. Ignatius alum and starting shortstop, Mike McNamara, had a key second inning base hit which drove in Massillon alum and starting first baseman, Aidan Longwell, and Collin Mathews, to give Kent State a 6-2 lead. The Golden Flashes would add one run in the sixth and three more in the eighth to defeat the Buckeyes,10-5.
For the game, the Golden Flashes had 8 hits, including extra base hits by Jake Casey and Josh Johnson. In addition, Aidan Longwell, Kyle Jackson, Mike McNamara, Kolton Schaller, and Collin Mathews all had hits for the Golden Flashes.
Photo by Al Kornspan
Leading Kent State at the plate was sophomore Jake Casey who was 2-3 on the night. Casey had a triple, RBI and scored three runs for the Golden Flashes.
“It was a fun one,” said Casey. “I thought we played really well as a team.”
Casey, the son of former Cleveland Indian baseball player and current MLB Network analyst, Sean Casey grew up with close ties to Northeast Ohio.
“My mom grew up 30 minutes away from here, she played volleyball at Akron,” said Casey. “It’s good to have family so close to here, even the family back at home in Pittsburgh is only two hours away. So, it’s just good to have everyone so close.”
Photo by Al Kornspan
Leading the way for the Buckeyes was 2022 Walsh Jesuit alum, Henry Kaczmar. He was 3-4 at the plate with an RBI.
Kaczmar mentioned how fun it was to return to Northeast Ohio and play in front of friends and family.
“It was awesome,” said Kaczmar. “I had a bunch of friends and family here today, which is really awesome of them to come. I always love seeing my family and my friends and I love being back home.”
With the victory the Golden Flashes move to 28-12 on the season and are currently in a 4-way tie for first place in the MAC conference. The Golden Flashes have been excellent at the plate this season as they currently have a .302 team batting average.
Individually, they have been led by Aidan Longwell who is currently batting .424 on the season.
The Golden Flashes open up a 3 game weekend home series on Friday with Ohio University and then travel to Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines on Tuesday, May 2.
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