By: by Jason Hanes
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. - Josh Whitaker's solo home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth proved to be the difference as the Kennesaw State baseball team earned its first Atlantic Sun Conference series win with an 8-7 victory over Belmont in the first game a doubleheader at Stillwell Stadium.
"We got off to a great start, but then Belmont did a good job of limiting us in the middle innings," said KSU head coach Mike Sansing. "Clint Roques had a big hit in the eighth to tie it, and then Josh got the big hit in the ninth for us."
The Owls jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second on the strength of a solo home run by Ronnie Freeman over the wall in left center over 390 feet away. Four more Owls came home to roost in the third, with Bucky Smith scoring Sean McClurken on a triple to right for the first run of the inning. A squeeze bunt by Peyton Hart brought in Smith two batters later, and Whitaker drove in his first run of the game with a single into left, scoring Tyler Stubblefield. The final run of the frame came in when Freeman singled into right to plate Whitaker.
After the second inning though, Belmont starter Chase Brookshire settled down, keeping the Owls off the scoreboard over the next four innings. Meanwhile, the Bruins rallied against KSU starter Josh Carr. The Bruins scored two runs in the fourth on a two-run home run by Nate Woods, with the visitors taking the lead in the fifth with four unearned runs, the final blow coming on another two-run home run by Woods. Woods continued to do the damage to the Owls in the seventh, bringing in another run on a single to left.
The Owls rallied back to knot the score, 7-7, in the eighth. Whitaker led off the inning with a double, then Drew Fowlkes and Ross Tendler walked to load the bases. One batter later, a single through the left side by Roques on a 1-2 offering brought in two men, tying the score.
That set the stage for Whitaker's heroics. The junior jumped on a 2-2 offering from Matt Hamann for a home run well over the Bailey Buidling in left field to end the contest.
J.B. Johnson (4-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win for the Owls. Hamann (3-1) took the loss after allowing the home run to Whitaker in the ninth.
In the second game, the Owls (13-17, 4-5) got into an 8-0 hole and couldn't climb all the way out, falling XX-XX to the Bruins.
The Bruins scored five runs in the first inning off KSU starter Bryan Blough (1-3). Tim Egerton and Mark Noth both had two-run singles in the inning for the Bruins. One frame later, the Bruins went up 8-0 as Woods connected on a three-run homer, his third shot over the wall of the doubleheader.
KSU clawed back into the contest in the third when Freeman turned on a 1-2 offering from Frank Adelman and deposited it over the wall in left just inside the foul pole for a three-run homer. In the fifth, a two-run double by Roques with the bases loaded edged KSU closer, 8-5.
But in the sixth, the Bruins (16-13, 5-7) would put the game away, sending 12 men to the plate and scoring seven. As a team. Belmont hit for the cycle in the inning with Woods connecting for his fourth home run of the doubleheader.
KSU scored four times in the seventh to close the gap, with Fowlkes driving a long, three-run home run over the 367-foot mark in right center for the big blow of the inning. Kyle Clayton pitched three scoreless innings for the Owls, but that would be as close as the Owls would get as Jon Ivie earned his seventh save of the season by going the final three innings of the contest. Hamann (4-1) came in to relieve Adelman and picked up the win in the process.
The Owls will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech in a rematch of last Wednesday's 7-4 win for KSU. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium.
