Bores, Lyon Help Kent State Baseball Sweep MAC East Division Weekly Awards
Duo helped lead Kent State to a Mid-American Conference opening weekend sweep of Northern Illinois.
CLEVELAND – The Kent State baseball team swept the Mid-American Conference weekly awards, as senior catcher David Lyon (Emporium, Pa.) has been named Player of the Week and junior right-handed starting pitcher Ryan Bores (Strongsville, Ohio) has been named Pitcher of the Week, as announced by the conference office today (March 26).
The duo helped lead the Golden Flashes (11-10, 3-0 MAC) to a MAC opening weekend sweep of West Division foe Northern Illinois last weekend (March 23-25) at Olga A. Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium, jumping out to an early lead in the race for the MAC East crown. Kent State bested Northern Illinois, 12-6, in its home opener Friday (March 23) and followed it up with a 6-1 Saturday (March 24) triumph and a 5-2 victory Sunday (March 25). The Flashes completed their first conference sweep since a 2-0 series win at Bowling Green (May 13-14, 2011) last season.
Lyon batted a team-best .500 with a team-high five hits -- including a double and a home run -- to go along with three RBIs and three runs scored. He belted his second round tripper of the season and 16th of his career with a two-run shot over the right field wall in the third inning to help power the Golden Flashes to a 6-1 win Saturday (March 24) to clinch the series win. For the season, Lyon ranks third on the team with 12 RBIs and fourth on the team with 23 hits.
Bores displayed the command that made him a 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft pick, striking out a career-high nine over a career-long eight innings and retiring 14 of the final 15 batters he faced to help Kent State earn the victory Saturday. Making his debut in front of the Blue & Gold faithful after transferring to Kent State by way of Cuyahoga Community College, Bores improved to 4-2 on the season and increased his season strikeout total to 23 against just eight walks. He did not issue a free pass to the Huskies.
The weekly conference honors increase Kent State's season total to five.
Kent State continues midweek non-conference action with two games this week, hosting fellow Mid-American Conference member Toledo in a Tuesday (March 27) non-conference battle at Olga A. Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium before traveling to the Steel City Wednesday (March 28) to battle Pittsburgh at Charles L. Cost Field. Both contests are slated to begin at 3 p.m.
2012 Kent State Baseball MAC Weekly Award Winners
Week 6 (March 26) – David Lyon, Player of the Week & Ryan Bores, Pitcher of the Week
Week 3 (March 12) - Tyler Skulina, Pitcher of the Week
