Eugene Super Regional: Five Reasons Kent State is Ready

Raise your hand if you’ve watched one minute of Kent State baseball, excluding those committed folks who caught their matchup against Purdue on the Big Ten Network.

I didn’t think so. Luckily, their 61-game season has been condensed to five different keys to why this team is facing the Oregon in a super regional in Eugene and how they will compete with the Ducks all weekend long.

They Tore Apart the MAC

With only three losses on the season, this team completely set themselves apart from the entire conference. They’re the only team with a batting average of over 30 percent. The team ERA is 3.48 and have over 500 strikeouts, both of which are best in the MAC. They’ve scored 40 more runs more than the second-best team, Central Michigan, who has 386. The hits, RBIs, and on-base percentage lead the entire conference.

Bottom line, they’ve simply just won much more than the other teams, 10 more wins overall and seven more conference wins than the second-best Chippewas. The MAC tournament was a breeze by outscoring the opponents 32-7 in four games, cruising to an easy berth into the regionals. It doesn’t matter if the MAC is ranked lower than most conferences, they’re an outlier when compared to the pack.

20 Straight Victories

Even if the strength of schedule is at 181, winning 20 games in a row at any level is impressive. Teams that are hot play at a higher level than anything the stat sheet can show us, and they were clutch in the Gary Regional. There were arguments between Purdue and Kentucky about who should have hosted a regional. The Golden Flashes took down the Wildcats in the second-longest postseason game in history (Texas and Boston College’s affair lasted four innings longer in 2009), spoiled the Boilermaker’s party early with five innings in the second inning to eventually win 7-3, and edged Kentucky again to sweep the regional.