The Kent State baseball team heads to Toledo this weekend for a key Mid-American Conference series. The Rockets come in at 10-5 in MAC play and the Golden Flashes are 7-5.
Jeff Duncan’s Flashes come off a Tuesday night win that saw them “Fly the Flag” against Pittsburgh of the ACC, pulling out a 5-4 win.
KSU has won three of four games going back to last weekend and their series victory over Eastern Michigan.
Toledo features Garrett Pike and a dynamic offense, scoring 7.5 runs per game and a conference best 37 home runs in MAC play.
Kent State is even more prolific offensively, averaging 9.5 runs per game.
Veterans Mike McNamara and Kyle Jackson are heating up, while another vet in Josh Johnson has carried the Flashes offensively, batting .426 in MAC play.
The Flashes will be tested against the Toledo starting pitching. “We saw a bunch of lefties today, and we’re gonna see three starting lefties from them this weekend,” Duncan told KentWired.com after the Pittsburgh win. “Hopefully, this helps us against Pitt and seeing two lefties for the majority of the game. Hopefully, it will prime us for the weekend.”
Kent State hands the ball to Friday guy Calvin Bickerstaff, hoping to keep momentum high and continue to build as the season progresses. He opposes Toledo’s Grant Umberger. Both starters are 3-0 in MAC play.
“We’re in a good place,” McNamara told KentWired.com. “We’ve had our ups and downs to start the season, but now we’re keeping to the process we have. Everyone’s close as ever, so we’re in a really good spot and excited.”
Hopefully Tiffin transfer Tim Orr can play this weekend as he tries to recover from injury. McNamara has also struggled with a bad back, forcing him and Jackson to swap positions between third base and shortstop.
All three games will be televised on ESPN+ and Toledo does a great job with their production, so KSU fans can settle back and root for the right version of the blue and gold.