Category | Sports

Wet weekend wins against No. 21 Kent State

Published on March 24, 2009 by John Morbitzer

The Owls (7-6) grabbed two wins sweeping a double-header from No. 21 Kent State (8-4) on Friday, March 13 at Stillwell Stadium.

The Owls used two late rallies to score go-ahead and winning runs in 3-2, and 7-6, wins.

“We played well in both games,” said head coach Mike Sansing. “I thought we pitched well, really well, in the first game and most of the second game. We made a couple mistakes, but I’m pretty pleased.”

With one out, and down 0-2 in the count in the bottom of the eighth of the first game, the Owls’ Jace Whitmer forced a walk to become the lead runner. After a walk and a wild pitch advanced Whitmer to third base, Bucky Smith hit an RBI double to drive Whitmer in just ahead of the tag.

“I was just pushing him along there just trying to get him home. He had a good jump on the ball and definitely thought he was under the tag so it was nice,” said Sansing about waving Whitmer home.

The Owls’ Kyle Heckathorn and Brad Stillings of the Golden Flashes displayed their arsenal of pitches in a true pitchers’ duel. Both pitchers dominated their outings combining for more strikeouts than hits in their respective innings.

Heckathorn pitched seven complete innings, striking out nine while giving up five hits and one earned run. Stillings went five and a third, recording six strikeouts while giving up five hits and two earned runs.

Kent State took an early lead in the top of the third as their leadoff batter, Jimmy Rider, singled and eventually scored. Whitmer homered in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score, but Kent State reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth with an unearned run.

KSU answered in the bottom half of the sixth inning when Curtis Van Wyck crossed the plate to again tie the score. The score remained the same until the bottom of the eighth, when the Owls took the lead.

The second game did not feature the same defensive struggle, but the late-game heroics were still on display.

The game remained a stalemate until the bottom of the ninth with the teams tied at six, when KSU took advantage of a leadoff single to center by Tyler Stubblefield. The next two batters walked, loading the bases with no outs.

KSU’s Andrew Martin fouled a pitch down the first base line and Stubblefield tagged up on third base waiting for the catch. The sacrifice fly was complete as a stretching Stubblefield beat the tag with a Pete Rose-style slide to record the second victory for the Owls on the day.

“Really what was going through my head was to not get thrown out at the plate. But coach said ‘tag’ and I know we tag on any foul ball hit,” said Stubblefield. “So, once I saw the foul ball and saw he was going to catch it, I said ‘Do whatever I have to do.’ I had to get in there and score.”

The Golden Flashes took another early lead in the second game, scoring two runs in the top of the second, but KSU’s Jon White responded with a three-run home run in the bottom of the second to give the Owls the lead. Kent State scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning to reclaim the lead, 6-5, before Whitmer scored in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game again, setting up the late inning dramatics.