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May 18, 2002

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio - Not sure of its postseason status the Miami University (29-25, 15-11 Mid-American) baseball team clinched a spot in the MAC Tournament with a split against Kent State (32-18, 17-7 MAC) in Saturday's doubleheader at McKie Field at Hayden Park. The RedHawks honored their three seniors in between the two games, and learned after the doubledip that they would extend their season at least one more week when Ball State defeated Western Michigan 3-2 in 13 innings.

Senior hurler Shawn Landis (Pleasant Hill, Ohio/Dayton) collected his fifth victory as a starter in the first contest by whiffing six Golden Flashes' batters in Miami's 5-3 win. Kent State decreased its magic number to two for hosting the tournament by stealing the nightcap from the Red and White 10-4.

The Golden Flashes knocked Landis around for two runs in the third frame and one more in the fourth to take a 3-0 advantage on the undefeated starter. Eric O'Brien and Chris Welsch belted home the two third inning runs while Eric Holick knocked home KSU's third run in the fourth frame.

An unfazed RedHawks team responded to the 3-0 deficit by tallying four runs in the bottom of the fourth on four hits. Juniors Mike Galloway (St. Thomas, Ontario/Central Michigan) and Michael Carlin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) were hit by a pitch and walked, respectively, to open the frame. Galloway crossed the plate for Miami's first run when freshman Paul Frietch (Montgomery, Ohio/Moeller) hit an RBI single to right-center field, and Carlin scored one batter later on a knock to center field by sophomore Ryan Edginton (Chester Springs, Pa./Arizona State). Frietch scored from third on a ground out to knot the game at 3-3, and freshman Brian Canada (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) hit the eventual game-winning RBI on his at-bat to cap off the RedHawks' four-run rally.

Landis settled down after the three early runs to earn his seventh victory of the season, improving to a perfect 7-0. He received an insurance run on a sacrifice fly by junior Zach Schmidt (Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas) to earn the 5-3 win, and in doing so dropping his earned run average to 4.12.

The nightcap opened with Kent State taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Welsch took a 1-1 pitch from senior southpaw Russ Bayer (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) over the right-field wall to give his team the 2-0 lead.

The RedHawks put together a two-run inning of their inning in the bottom half of the first to draw the game even at 2-2. Junior David Cook (Columbus, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) led off with a single and moved over to second when sophomore Josh Widlansky (Coral Gables, Fla./Travella) drew a free pass from Kent State pitcher Chris White. An infield single to the shortstop by Galloway loaded the bases, and a single through the right side by Carlin brought home two RedHawks' runs.

Edginton scored on a passed ball in the fourth stanza to give Miami a 3-2 lead, but Kent State retaliated in the fifth inning with two runs to regain the lead 4-3. The game was evened at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth when Galloway led off with a double, and Carlin ripped a triple to right field to plate Galloway.

Bayer was tarnished for another run in the sixth inning when Tom Martin led off with a solo blast to left-center field giving the Golden Flashes a 5-4 advantage. Bayer's attempt to collect his 29th career victory was put to bed in the seventh when he left the contest in line for the defeat.

Miami was unable to score off Kent State's pitching combination of Kyle Augsberger and Gus Hlebovy during the final four innings as KSU coasted to victory lane. The Golden Flashes strengthened their win by dropping five runs on the RedHawks in the ninth frame. Augsberger collected the victory to improve to 5-1 while Hlebovy earned his conference best 10th save of the season. Suffering the loss for Miami was Bayer who drops to 7-3.

The RedHawks play a doubleheader again tomorrow Sunday, May 19 against the Golden Flashes at 1 p.m. at their new ballpark, McKie Field at Hayden Park. Tomorrow's contest is being preceded by the formal dedication ceremony to Joseph P. Hayden and family commencing at 12:45 p.m. Both contests will be broadcast live on Miami's website, www.MURedHawks.com and on WMOH-AM 1450 in Hamilton.