By: by Jason Hanes
KENNESAW, Ga. - Fresh off of three wins in Knoxville, Tenn., the Kennesaw State baseball team will look to keep the momentum going in its favor as it travels to Athens to face in-state rival Georgia this Tuesday at 5 p.m. Wednesday's game will take place at Stillwell Stadium with a first pitch of 5 p.m. as well.
The Owls are coming off a 3-1 weekend in Knoxville at a tournament hosted by Tennessee. The Black and Gold took a pair of games from Binghamton over the weekend and defeated the host Volunteers, 4-2. In the finale Sunday, the Owls were one strike away from completing a sweep for the weekend, but the Vols came back to defeat KSU, 3-2, in 11 innings.
Freshman Ronnie Freeman had a solid weekend for the Owls. The catcher hit .526 for the weekend, driving home seven runs and getting four extra-base hits. In Friday's win over Binghamton, Freeman went 3-for-5 with a homer, a double, and three RBIs. Freeman had another 3-for-5 day against Tennessee Saturday,
before driving in two runs with a pair of RBI singles against Binghamton Sunday. Finally against Tennessee in
Sunday's finale, Freeman doubled twice and drove in a run. Freeman has risen to the top of KSU's batting average race with a .319 mark.
While the Owls bats did enough to get three wins over the weekend, that would not have been possible if not for the solid pitching the Owls received in Tennessee. KSU's pitchers had an ERA of 3.65 over the weekend, with 11 different pitchers throwing in the four games. Versus Tennessee, starting pitchers Josh Carr and Micah Sales combined for 10.2 innings with just one run allowed.
The Owls have had a measure of success against Georgia. The teams first met in the 2006 season - Kennesaw's first year as a Division I school - with the Bulldogs taking both games. Georgia won the first meeting, 11-3, but the Owls fought hard at a neutral site game in Rome, Ga., falling to the 11th ranked Bulldogs, 8-7. In 2007, the Owls earned their first win against their in-state brethren, winning at Foley Field, 3-2. During the 2008 campaign, the Owls earned their second win in the series, 8-6, over the Bulldogs in Athens just one day after losing at home to UGA, 12-5. The teams met just once in 2009, with Georgia pulling away for an 11-7 win.
Among current Owls, Tyler Stubblefield has the best batting average all-time against the Bulldogs with a .386 mark. The senior is 7-for-18 with two doubles and four RBIs against UGA pitching.
Zak Griffith (0-1, 7.71) will get the start for the Owls Tuesday, while Catlan Kendrick (0-0, 14.40) is slated to be the hurler for KSU Wednesday.
