Kent State University
#25 University of Connecticut
#25 Huskies Outlast Flashes in Extras
4/2/2022 4:26:00 PM | Baseball
KENT, OHIO- For the second-straight afternoon, the Golden Flashes found themselves on the wrong end of a back-and-forth ball game with the #25 UConn Huskies, falling on Saturday 8-6 in 10 innings at Schoonover Stadium.
Kent State erased multi-run deficits twice on Saturday, coming back from down 2-0 and 5-2. After the Huskies got the first of two homers from Casey Dana to take a lead in the first, the Flashes got single tallies in the third and again in the fifth to draw even.
The teams traded three-spots in the seventh. The Flashes answered UConn thanks to the bottom part of the lineup. A single by Connor Ashby was followed by a Payton Pennington walk and the second of three Josh Johnson singles loaded the bases. Kyle Jackson delivered a two-run single and Justin Kirby followed with his second sacrifice fly of the game. Both teams got the go-ahead runs to second in the late innings but couldn't score.
In the 10th, the Huskies got a pair of singles to start the inning before a three-run homer by Dana proved to be the deciding blow, his second of the game. Justin Miknis homered in the bottom of the 10th, one of four hard-hit balls in the inning for the Flashes, but the Huskies were able to close out the victory.
Both starting pitchers pitched much better than their line shows. Collin Romel went six and a third innings allowing five hits, four runs and four strikeouts. He retired 10 straight batters at one point before running into trouble in the three-run seventh. UConn's Pat Gallagher had a similar fate, also going six and a third and was tagged for four runs while striking out nine against two walks.
The Flashes will look to take the finale of the three-game set on Sunday, first pitch from Schoonover is set for 1 p.m.
