When current Kent State seniors Mason Mamarella, Nick Kanavas and Reilly Hawkins started their collegiate baseball careers in 2014, they couldn’t have been much further apart.
Kanavas was literally 2,000 miles away at the University of Arizona. Technically, Hawkins and Mamarella were only separated by about 15 miles, but in reality they were worlds apart as members of bitter backyard rivals Kent State and Akron, respectively.
Now Kanavas, Hawkins and Mamarella form the starting outfield for the 2018 Mid-American Conference champion Golden Flashes, who will open NCAA Regional play Friday night against Louisville in Lubbock, Texas.
Each player followed his own unique path to stardom at Kent State.
Kanavas lasted just one season at Arizona before transferring to Madison College in Wisconsin, near his hometown of Brookfield. He then joined the Flashes via the junior college transfer route in 2017, and quickly wedged his way into the starting lineup by batting .308 on the year.
Kanavas has played the best baseball of his life as a senior with the Flashes, batting .358 with 34 RBIs and 20 stolen bases out of the leadoff spot to earn first-team All-MAC honors.
While Kanavas has always been an outfielder, Hawkins joined the Flashes as a walk-on catcher from Chardon.
Hawkins redshirted in 2014, then became injury-ravaged Kent State’s fifth starting center fielder of 2015 in the final game of the regular season — when the Flashes edged Akron 3-2 in 10 innings to claim the MAC East Division championship with only 10 healthy position players available.
Hawkins batted .355 as a sophomore and .283 as a junior, starting about half of Kent State’s games each year. He’s been in the lineup virtually every day in 2018 and has repeatedly delivered, batting .304 with a team-high 14 doubles and eight steals.
When Hawkins was playing center for the Flashes in that title-clinching 2015 contest at Akron, Mamarella was starting as a redshirt freshman in center field for the Zips. After batting .248 with 14 steals that year, Mamarella suddenly found himself searching for a new home along with the rest of his Akron teammates and coaches after the university nixed the program following the 2015 season.
Kent State invited Mamarella to join its squad, and he quickly learned to adore the team he once dreaded.
“It’s crazy. I just would have never guessed that I would be here in my last year of college,” said Mamarella. “The fact that it worked out the way it did is just incredible. I couldn’t ask to be in a better spot than here. This program has made me the best player I can be. Just to be part of the winning tradition here has been special.”
Mamarella has always been a dominant defensive outfielder since his days at Dover High School, but he has made significant strides offensively since joining the Flashes. He batted .303 with 11 doubles and 12 steals as a sophomore in 2016, jumped to .330 with 18 swipes as a junior to earn second-team All-MAC honors, then vaulted to first team by posting a .323 average with 42 RBIs and 33 steals this spring.
″(Mamarella) is another guy that’s really developed,” said KSU coach Jeff Duncan. “He’s always been a great defensive center fielder, but his offense has improved so much. He’s also always been a really good bunter, but now he can handle the bat, drive the baseball, hit from both sides of the plate. He has driven in some key runs for us. He’s also really improved his base stealing. He’s gotten very good at stealing third base, which puts a lot of pressure on a pitcher and gets (junior No. 3 hitter) Pavin Parks better pitches to hit.”
While no one ever envisioned a KSU outfield featuring a former Zip, a transfer from Wisconsin and an ex-catcher, the mishmash has worked miracles for the Flashes in 2018.
Kent State’s 2018 squad is loaded with high-impact seniors like starting catcher Tim DalPorto, starting pitchers Eli Kraus and Jared Skolnicki, and part-time designated hitter Brad Hamilton, along with the entire starting outfield.
“It’s a unique situation when you have so many seniors,” said Mamarella. “We’re all very experienced and very confident. We have great leadership. We’ve been through adversity, had success, had failures. Really nothing gets in our way. We’re confident in who we are, and that makes for great leadership in the locker room.”
Hamilton, the son of Cleveland Indians radio voice Tom Hamilton, has delivered several clutch hits throughout his KSU career and leads the squad this season with nine home runs.
Meanwhile, the starting lineup No. 21 Louisville (43-17) will send into Friday night’s regional battle with the Flashes (39-16) will not include a single senior. The Cardinals only have one graduate student and two seniors on their entire roster.
Duncan credits his seniors for helping breed success in the Flashes’ underclassmen.
“We’ve got six freshmen that are really contributing, and I think that’s a testament to our senior leadership for helping bring them along and helping them buy into what we’re doing,” said Duncan. “Those guys are every day leaders. They had a goal since last September that we were going to (win the MAC Tournament), and they’ve brought it every day. They’ve been through a lot of adversity, both individually and as a team. Falling short at the MAC Tournament for three straight years was tough, but it only made them stronger.
“It’s a really close group, a family. It’s been a lot of fun coaching these guys this year.”
If the Flashes’ joyride continues into the next few weeks, look for the national pundits to pick up on the similarities between senior-laden Kent State of 2018 and CWS champion Coastal Carolina of 2016.
“The clubs are very similar — a bunch of veterans, tough hitters that don’t strike out a lot but just grind out pitchers and find ways to win late,” said Duncan. “That’s what you’ve got to do to win at the regional level.”