May 23, 2008

Kent State answers with win over Northern Illinois

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio – They always had an answer.

Every time fourth-seeded Northern Illinois scored, top-seeded Kent State answered.

The Golden Flashes posted a 10-6 victory over the Huskies to stay undefeated in the 2008 Mid-American Conference Tournament at VA Memorial Stadium.

After holding NIU scoreless in the top of the first, KSU put up two in the bottom of the frame as Anthony Gallas had an RBI groundout and Greg Rohan added a home run.

Dave Reynolds and Pat Minogue homered in the top of the third for the Huskies and Bobby Stevens added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to give NIU the lead at 3-2. The Flashes responded immediately as Anthony Gallas launched his 12^th homer with a man on in the bottom of the third to put KSU ahead at 4-3.

Danny Reed smacked a two-run homer in the fourth for NIU in the fourth, only to see Cory Hindel have a sacrifice fly and Chris Tremblay add an RBI single to put Kent back on top a 6-5.

Gallas walked and scored in the fifth, and each team added a run in the sixth. Doug Sanders capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the eighth to give KSU the 10-6 advantage.

The Flashes had outstanding work out of the pen. In the sixth inning, with one run already in, Justin Gill entered with runners on the corners and one away. He got a strikeout and a groundout to leave the runners stranded. Gill went 2.2 innings with two hits, one walk and three strikeouts. Jon Pokorny struck out two of three he faced in the ninth to secure the win.

NIU faces Ball State at 12:30 pm Friday in an elimination game. The winner will have to defeat Kent State twice to advance to Saturday’s Championship Game, with the first meeting at 7:30 p.m. Friday.