May 8, 2004

Box Score

Contact: Kevin Zeise

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State baseball team dropped its second-straight game to Kent State on Saturday, falling by a 5-2 score at Forest Hill Park in East Cleveland. The Vikings notched just seven hits on the day in falling to 11-26 on the season. Kent State moves to 26-21 on the year with the win.

"(Matt) Kaltenbach pitched well enough to win, but our pitching is so thin right now," assistant coach Dave Sprochi, filling in for head coach Jay Murphy, said. "We got bit by it last night and again today. We're playing good ball, we just have to get more runs and start to get guys healthy."

The Vikings jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning as Brian Lombardi led off the inning with a walk. He moved to second on a wild pitch and continued to third on another wild pitch by starter Jason Brunke. Cory Rojeck then hit a fly to left that was dropped by the left fielder, scoring Lombardi. Rojeck tried to stretch the play into a three-base error, but was thrown out at third. Ben Smith then singled to shortstop and moved to second when Doug Besozzi singled to third base. Dominic Erney then hit a shot to first that was mishandled by first baseman Chad Kinyon, but Marc Sikora grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Kent State scored once in the fourth to tie the game, then added another pair in the fifth inning. The Vikings got a run back in the seventh when Mike Ochwat led off the inning with a solo home run to right-center, his first of the year. But Kent State put the game away with two more runs, both unearned, in the eighth inning.

Matt Kaltenbach worked the first 7.1 innings, allowing four runs, two of them earned, on nine hits and a pair of walks, while striking out five in taking the loss. Mike Ochwat worked two-thirds of an inning, allowing one run on three hits and a walk. P.J. Bartosh also went two-thirds of an inning, while Jason Bartnicki recorded the final out, a fly ball to center.

The Vikings and Golden Flashes will wrap up the series on Monday with a 5 p.m. contest at Jacobs Field.