KENT-Kyle Jackson hit a two-out three-run homer, capping a four-run eighth and giving the Golden Flashes a 6-4 comeback win over the Western Michigan Broncos in the opening game of the 2023 Mid-American Conference tournament.

Mitch Scott got the final six outs of the game and earned his second victory of the season. The comeback spoiled a brilliant outing from the Broncos' Brady Miller who pitched into the eighth.

Western Michigan got on the board first, taking advantage of two walks and a hit by pitch to loaded the bases in the first. The Broncos pushed the opening run across on a sacrifice fly, a lead they would carry into the third inning. Cade Sullivan doubled the Bronco lead with a no-doubter to right field, his first of two homers on the day.

It stayed 2-0 into the sixth when Mack Timbrook reached on a walk and was pushed to third on a Justin Miknis single. Aidan Longwell tied the game with an opposite field double, Miknis beat the throw home on a play that withstood a replay review.

Western battled back with the go-ahead run in the seventh, again scoring a run without the benefit of a base hit. They threatened again in the eighth, getting runners to second and third with less than two out. Scott got a strikeout and a ground to escape the jam.

In the eighth, it was a repeat of the sixth with Timbrook walking, Miknis hitting a single and Longwell tying the game with a base hit. After a Mike McNamara pop up, Jackson took a 1-1 pitch from Hayden Berg and golfed it over the right field wall for a go-ahead three-run homer. Scott made the 6-3 lead hold up, allowing Sullivan's second solo homer of the game but nothing more.

The victory moves Kent State into the winner's bracket of the conference tournament. They will face the winner of Ball State and Central Michigan on Thursday night at 6 p.m. Western Michigan will face the loser of that contest in an elimination game on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.