KENT - Kent State's bats have produced 42 runs in the last 25 innings of play.

In a non-conference game against Duquesne  (13-14)  Wednesday, the Golden Flashes  (13-15)  scored 15 runs in the first three innings en route to an 18-10 slugfest win over the Dukes.

"I thought we swung the bats very well today,"  head coach Scott Stricklin said.  "Again, we took advantage of the free passes.  We've been looking for more consistency and we're definitely starting to see that offensively."

As has been the case of late, the Flashes surrendered the early lead.  Duquesne lead off the game with a solo homer off the bat of Derek Mechling.  A walk to Mike Carroll, single by Mark Tracy and double by Bill Torre produced the second run of the inning and the Dukes took the early 2-0 lead.

In the bottom half, a walk to Jared Humphreys set up a big first inning for KSU.  Then, Doug Sanders picked up the first of his five hits on the day.  He would eventually score four times as well.  He became the first KSU hitter to collect five hits in a game since Chad Kinyon did so against Marshall in 2003.

After Sanders' single, Ben Klafczynski walloped a three-run homer to right-center field and Kent State forged ahead by one.  An error by the shortstop then opened the door for three more runs and the Flashes had themselves a 6-2 lead after an inning.  Included in the rally was a big two-run double by John Lydic, who got the start behind the plate.

Starter Alan Morrison then worked a scoreless second inning and sent his offense right back to the plate.  Singles and walks put baserunners on, and the big hit in the inning was a two-run single by Brett Weibley which ran Kent State's advantage to 9-2 after a pair of innings.  Duquesne then closed the gap to 9-6 with a four-run third off Morrison.

In the bottom of the third, the Flashes struck for their second six-run inning in the game.  A walk to Ryan Tokarz and then successive singles from Humphreys and Sanders followed to get things rolling.  Klafczynski walked and then Greg Rohan smacked a three-run double to clear the bases.  After a walk to Anthony Gallas, Jason Patton corked his first home run of the year and it was a 14-6 game.

Kent State and Duquese then traded double-tallies in the fourth and fifth.  The Dukes plated the game's final two runs in the seventh off Justin Gill, who then worked a scoreless eighth to keep the score 18-10.  Steven Davis picked up his second win of the year, tossing two and two-thirds shutout innings.  Jon Pokorny then worked an uneventful ninth.

The Flashes will entertain the Toledo Rockets this weekend as MAC play resumes.  A 3 p.m. opener Friday will precede a pair of 1 p.m. games on Saturday and Sunday as the good guys try and start a conference winning streak.

"It's a big series for us," Stricklin said.  "The one thing I really think we need is better starting pitching.  I think we've seen signs of it lately but we really need to see it more consistently."