A surprising story continues to unfold over in Gary, Ind. The Kent State Golden Flashes, the No. 3 seed in the region, played in a historic 21-inning game in their first matchup. The Flashes won that battle 7-6 over No. 2 seed Kentucky to advance to the winner’s side.
From there, KSU just defeated No. 1 Purdue to bring its winning streak to 19 games. Here’s more from the Plain Dealer’s Elton Alexander:
A five-run second inning was the catalyst for Kent (43-17). The rally started with a two-out, two-strike single from Alex Miklos and did not end until after KSU had brought nine players to the plate.
“It was just one of those nights,” Purdue coach Doug Schreiber said. “They bunched hits together with two outs. Give them credit. They’re definitely a good offensive team.” Kent finished the game with 13 hits and three walks, while limiting strikeouts to just five.
Later today, KSU will play the winner of Kentucky and Purdue. Kent State will have the advantage of just needing to win one out of a possible two games, because of the usual double elimination format, in order to advance to the 16-team Super Regionals. The eight winners of best-of-three Super Regional series then advance to the College World Series in Omaha.
The Flashes are the only Ohio team remaining in NCAA contention. The Dayton Flyers, a No. 4 out in College Station, Texas, were eliminated with a 28-12 loss yesterday to TCU.
