The Miami University RedHawks baseball team earned a defiant 5-2 victory over the Kent State University Golden Flashes in the first game of the 2024 Mid-American Conference (MAC) tournament in Avon, Ohio.
The RedHawks finished the regular season with a series loss to the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers. Miami lost the first game 9-3, came back in the second game with a 7-6 win but fell in the third game 10-2.
Miami entered the postseason at 27-25 (17-13 in MAC play) and sat at fourth in the conference, while Kent State sat at fifth with a 27-26 (17-13) record in the regular season.
Kent State put up the first point on the scoreboard at the top of the first inning, but the RedHawks answered back with a two-run homer from redshirt sophomore infielder Evan Appelwick to take an early lead.
The RedHawks extended the lead with three more runs at the bottom of the second inning. A run from sophomore infielder Tyler Gordon and an RBI single from junior catcher Ty Batusich gave them a 5-1 lead.
Neither team added to the scoreboard until the seventh inning, when the Golden Flashes put up one run to cut the deficit to 5-2, but that remained the final score after two more innings.
Yesterday’s win set the RedHawks up against the No. 1 Bowling Green State University Falcons (32-18, 24-6 in MAC play) today at 2:30 p.m.
Miami faced Bowling Green earlier this year in Oxford for a three-game series that saw both teams engage in a high scoring competition but ultimately saw the RedHawks falling in all three games.
The first game of the series had both teams putting up over 30 combined points, with the result being a 17-16 loss for the RedHawks.
The second game included similar success for the Falcons, who put up 12 points, but not for the RedHawks, who mustered just one.
The final game of the series had the RedHawks tying the game after being down nine points at the bottom of the fifth. Four runs in the eighth inning made the comeback possible, and the game went into extra innings after Miami tied it up 10-10 in the bottom of the ninth. However, the Falcons ended the game with four runs at the top of the 12th to take the game.
Historically, the RedHawks are 87-69 against the Falcons but have lost the last three matchups.
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The regular season series against Bowling Green shows that the RedHawks can hang with the top-ranked conference opponent and put up a fight.
If the team can play with the same strength it showed against the Golden Flashes, the RedHawks can continue its postseason push and take the MAC championship for the first time since 2005.
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