Kent, Ohio -- Kent State scored six runs in the third inning and four in the eighth while holding the Youngstown State baseball team to six hits in a 14-4 win over the Penguins on Wednesday at Schoonover Stadium.

The six-run third inning came after the game was tied at 2-2, and the Penguins had an error and blew two double play chances in the inning.

Jason Shirley went 2-for-3 with his first career triple to extend his hitting streak to eight games, and David Leon scored twice for the Penguins. Jimmy Rider had three hits, and Alex Miklos came off the bench to drive in three runs for the Golden Flashes.

Kent State gave a preview of its good day at the plate with two runs on three hits in the first inning to go up 2-0 on the Penguins. Jimmy Rider singled up the middle with one out and went to third on Tommy Monnot's single to right. Rider scored on a fielder's choice, and Nick Hamilton brought in Monnot with a two-out double to left.

The Penguins took advantage of some misplays from Kent State in the top of the second and answered with two runs to tie the game.  Leon drew a leadoff walk and went to second on a passed ball. The senior second baseman then scored when a grounder from Weston Weiss snuck through to left field when Kent State's third baseman and shortstop collided. Marcus Heath followed with YSU's only hit of the inning, and Padraic Williams walked on four pitches to load the bases. Tim Faix got a big strikeout of Drew Dosch of the second out, but another passed ball allowed Weiss to race home from third for the tying run.

The Penguins missed on two double play opportunities in the third, and Kent State went on to score six runs to go up 8-2. Rider and Monnot started the inning with back-to-back doubles, and George Roberts followed with a walk. Hamilton hit a double-play ball that only resulted in one out when Williams bobbled it, and Jason Bagoly singled to the left of Williams in the next at bat when the shortstop was still playing at double play depth. After T.J. Sutton's RBI single that made the score 5-2, Sawyer Polen reached when David Leon misplayed another double-play ball at second. That error led to three more runs, all of which were unearned.

Shirley hit a one-out triple and scored on Craig Goubeaux's sacrifice fly for YSU in the top of the fifth, and Alex Miklos doubled in Polen in the bottom of the inning for Kent State to make the score 9-3. The Golden Flashes added a manufactured run in the seventh and, YSU's Dan Hurlimann doubled home Leon in the top of the eighth to make the score 10-4. Kent State scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth for the final tally.

YSU starter Pat Shedlock was tagged with the loss, allowing five earned runs on nine hits in 2.2 innings. Ryan Krokos was solid in relief, holding the Golden Flashes to one run on two hits in 3.1 innings.

Dan Slavik earned the win in relief for Kent State, allowing one run on one hit in two innings.

Youngstown State will host Valparaiso in game one of a three-game series on Friday at 3 p.m.