March 21, 2008
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga.--Junior Justin Freeman pitched a complete game and Ric Bishop drove in the game-winning runs to lift Kennesaw State to a, 4-2, victory over Belmont in the second half of a doubleheader at Stillwell Stadium. The Owls 8-13, 5-4 A-Sun) lost a late lead and fell, 6-5, in the first game of the day.
In game two, Belmont (8-12, 5-7) manufactured runs in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead into the third. KSU got on the board in the bottom half of the third when Jerome Wooley connected on the first pitch he saw from Josh Moffitt for a solo homer to pull the Owls within a run.
The score remained the same until the fifth inning. The Owls loaded the bases with one out for Martin Baker. A 2-0 offering from Moffitt was lifted far enough into left center to bring home Curtis Van Wyck on the sacrifice fly to even the score at 2-all.
Bishop then stepped to the plate and laced a two-run double to bring home Wooley and Jacob Robbins with the go-ahead runs to put KSU up, 4-2.
That would be enough run support on the evening for Freeman. The hurler got retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh, then got out of small jams in the eighth and ninth to earn the complete-game victory.
The win for Freeman (2-2) came in the first game in which an Owls starting pitcher went the distance. Freeman struck out a career-high 13 batters in the victory.
Moffitt (0-3) was charged with four runs in 4.2 innings. He allowed only three hits but walked three and hit three batters as well.
In game one, the Owls came within an out of defeating the Bruins but Belmont scored one in the ninth to tie and two unearned in the tenth to defeat the Owls, 6-5.
The loss overshadowed Bishop's two homerun performance. The junior homered to right to lead off the sixth inning, then launched another towering drive to right to begin the tenth.
The Black and Gold got on the board first when Jay Morrow doubled home a pair in the home half of the first to give the Owls the 2-0 advantage. The score remained the same until the third when the Bruins tacked on a pair of runs of their own to tie the score.
KSU led 3-2 after six innings thanks to Bishop's first homer of the game. In the seventh, the teams traded runs as Belmont's Packy Elkins homered to right center to tie the score, then Van Wyck scored on a Belmont throwing error to give KSU the one-run lead again.
The score remained the same until the ninth when a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Vinna Casha brought home the tying run to send the game to extra frames.
In the 10th, defensive miscues doomed the Owls. With two out in the inning, Daniel Wagner reached on a Robbins fielding error that brought home the tying run from third. During the next at bat, Michael Bohana's pickoff attempt of Wagner at first went wildly into foul territory, allowing what would prove to be the game-winning run to score from third.
Bohana (0-2) took the loss as he was charged with three runs (one earned) in 2.2 innings of work. Dane Swinehart pitched the ninth to earn the win for the Bruins with Chris Manning earning his first save of the year by getting the final three outs of the contest.
The Owls will be off for Easter and will return to the field this Tuesday when the Georgia Bulldogs visit Stillwell Stadium at 6:00 p.m.. Tickets will be available for student pick-up at the KSU Convocation Center box office from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. this Monday.
