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A lot of things can be accomplished in four hours and 12 minutes.
In this timespan, one can mow their lawn, watch roughly one third of “13 Reasons Why”, get their laundry done, or do many other things. For the Kent State and Toledo baseball teams, they were able to put in 15 innings of work within these 252 minutes. Ultimately, Tim DalPorto reached base on an E6 in the bottom of the 15th, scoring Mason Mamarella on the play. The Golden Flashes won by a final score of 1-0.
The teams played nine innings and combined for 12 hits, but they left a combined 17 men on base in the regulation period. Both starting pitchers threw a complete nine innings. Therefore, despite the game going into a 15th inning, Toledo used just three pitchers to Kent State’s four. The Golden Flashes’ starter, Eli Kraus, struck out 8 of the 32 batters he faced. His opponent, Toledo’s Steven Calhoun, struck out for and walked three while also throwing for 32 at bats.
From the tenth inning on, both teams relied on their bullpens.
The Rockets’ bullpen did not concede a hit in extra innings. The Golden Flashes had five men on base in extra innings on five walks from the Toledo bullpen. The game-winning run was moved to second base on an intentional walk, and the play he scored on was an error to the shortstop that just barely got under his glove and onto the grass.
Kent State moves to 22-12 overall and 8-2 in the MAC, while Toledo falls to 14-24 overall and 7-6 in the MAC.
Whether Kent State or Toledo would’ve pulled this one out, one thing is for certain: MAC baseball fans are in for a great weekend and potential match-up in the conference tournament.