The Kent State Golden Flashes open the 2021 season with a three-game series at Virginia Tech.
2021 Season Schedule
The 2021 schedule opens up with three-straight road weekends with the Flashes heading to Virginia Tech, Tennessee Tech and West Virginia. The home slate starts on March 12th and 13th when Kent State welcomes in Salem University on Friday and Grand Valley State on Saturday.
The Mid-American Conference season starts the following weekend with Northern Illinois coming to town for a four-game set on March 19th-21st. The non-conference concludes with a double-header home-and home with Dayton. The Flashes will head to Dayton on Saturday, March 27th and host the Flyers on the 28th.
For the remainder of the conference season the Flashes will host Toledo (April 9-11), Ohio (April 30-May 2), Akron (May 7-9) and Western Michigan (May 21-23). Kent State will head to Bowling Green (April 2-4), Central Michigan (April 16-18), Miami (April 23-25), Ball State (May 14-16) and Eastern Michigan (May 28-30).
About the Flashes
Kent State once again finds itself as one of the conference favorites, ranking second overall in the pre-season poll but earning a conference-best five first-place votes.
It is a well-deserved ranking for a team that finished last year 27th in the college baseball RPI rankings. Head Coach Jeff Duncan brings back all three of his weekend starters, a deep bullpen and eight members of the 2020 lineup.
Pitching Preview
The Flashes bring back their three weekend starters from a season ago in Luke Albright, Colin Romel and Ryan Lane. All three starters made four starts in 2020 and never allowed more than three earned runs in a start.
Albright made four quality starts in 2020, finishing with a 2-2 record and a 1.90 earned run average. The righty went at least five innings in each start, highlighted by six shutout innings against Winthrop. Albright was named one of the top-100 draft prospects for the upcoming MLB Draft by MLB Pipeline.
Collin Romel made a successful return to the mound in 2020, pitching to a starter best 1.86 earned run average in 2020. The southpaw allowed just one earned run over his final 15.1 innings of work and struck out at least six in each of his final three starts
Ryan Lane made four Sunday starts for the Golden Flashes last season, pitching to a 2-1 record and a 2.31 earned run average. Lane had an impressive 19:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio and had the start of the season for the Flashes against Florida Gulf Coast. Lane threw eight-plus innings of shutout, three-hit baseball against the Eagles. Lane struck out a season-high 10 and didn't walk a batter.
The bullpen returns a number of solid arms from 2020. Max Rippl is a versatile pitcher that can play the role of stopper as well as starter. Last season, the righty made five appearances out the bullpen, with four scoreless outings. He held opposing batters to a .182 average. Jack Zimmerman was nearly perfect in 6.2 innings last year, allowing just one unearned run and surrendered only one hit. He struck out 12 in those six-plus innings with batters hitting a paltry .045 against him.
Hitting Preview
The offense will have a very familiar look to it in 2021. The Golden Flashes bring back eight regular starters from a season ago. Leading the charge is outfielder Ben Carew. He hit .377 last year to lead the team and was 15th in the NCAA and tops in the Mid-American Conference with eight doubles. Justin Kirby, Cam Touchette, Collin Mathews will be in an outfield/designated hitter rotation. All three had tremendous 2019 seasons with Kirby and Touchette battling injuries in the shortened 2020 campaign.
Mack Timbrook led the team in stolen bases last season (7-for7) and he and Grant Vera look to make up the middle part of the infield. Kent State will get the versatile Justin Miknis back after redshirting in 2020. Miknis can catch and play all over the infield and was a late-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 2019.
About Virginia Tech
The Hokies were pegged sixth in the ACC Coastal Division and went 11-5 last season. While they bring back their top power guy from 2020 (Kevin Madden) they lost Carson Taylor, who led them in every major offensive category. Tech brings back two of their main starters from a season ago in Chris Gerard and Anthony Simonelli. Gerard posted a 1.57 earned run average across four starts and had 29 strikeouts in 25 innings. Simonelli had a 2.91 earned run average in 21 innings across four starts. Simonelli did have some control issues, walking 13 batters in those 21 frames.
Follow Along
The three-game series is scheduled to be broadcasted on ACC Digital Network Extra. Links to watch are available on the baseball schedule page. ACC Digital Network is also available through the Watch ESPN app. Virginia Tech will also be providing live stats and we will have updates and highlights on Twitter @KentStBaseball.
Looking Ahead
The Golden Flashes will head south for the second-straight weekend, heading to Cookeville, Tennessee for a three-game, two-day series with Tennessee Tech. The Golden Flashes and Golden Eagles will play a solo game on Friday with a Saturday double header. First pitch on Friday is set for 3 p.m.
