By: KSU Sports Information
Live Stats
NASHVILLE – Kennesaw State will look to snap its two-game losing streak, but continue its three-game conference winning streak this weekend as they host the Belmont Bruins in a three-game series at Shelby Park.
The Owls (9-4, 3-0 A-Sun) sit alone at the top of the conference standings, but are looking to get back in the column after losing consecutive games for the first time this season, falling to No. 24-ranked Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Tuesday and to No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt on Wednesday afternoon.
Josh Carr (1-1, 1.62), Bryan Blough (0-0, 3.00) and Zac Griffith (2-1, 7.07) will be the starters for the series while Belmont will throw Chase Brookshire (1-0, 3.12) in the opener and follow with Nate Woods (0-3, 8.04) and James Buckelew (0-3, 7.63) in the finale. The Owls will look to start the season with four straight conference wins for the first time in the Division I era.
Ronnie Freeman carries his 42-game hitting streak into this weekend. The Owls sophomore catcher broke the Kennesaw State record for the longest hitting streak in the program’s history on Wednesday, topping Jason Jones’ 12-year mark of 41 games set during the 1998-99 seasons. Kennesaw State is the only program in the history of the NCAA to have two players with hitting streaks of longer than 40 games.
Sophomore shortstop Peyton Hart is making a name for himself in clutch situations. Hart is .474 with runners in scoring position this year and is a perfect 4-for-4 with the bases loaded, including an RBI-single on Wednesday at No. 2 Vanderbilt. Kennesaw State, as a team, is batting .450 with the bases loaded this season, and they are hitting over, or near, .300 in every key on-base category.
The Bruins (5-8, 1-3 A-Sun) have lost three of its last five games, but are fresh off an 11-3 win over Middle Tennessee State, their first win over MTSU in the last 10 meetings. Belmont is led by Chase Brookshire, who was the A-Sun Pitcher of the Week on Mar. 4, after he led the Bruins to a, 2-1, win over Mercer.
Belmont is led offensively by Preseason All-A-Sun selections Nate Woods, Jon Ivie and Dylan Craig. Ivie and Woods also garnered national recognition with the NBCWA selected Ivie onto the Stopper of the Year List while Woods earned Third Team Preseason All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball and Louisville Slugger.
Craig is batting .302, one of only two Belmont players batting over three hundred this season, while Woods has struggled this season, both at the plate and on the mound. He is batting just .163 while on the mound he has a 0-3 record with an earned run average of over eight. Ivie, meanwhile, has been dominant with four saves and has not allowed a run in six appearances.
Kennesaw State leads the all-time series, 10-5, and have taken two-of-three games in each of the five previous meetings. Last season, the Owls took two-of-three from the Bruins at Stillwell Stadium. Kennesaw State pounded out nine home runs including three by Ronnie Freeman and two by Drew Fowlkes as the Black and Gold scored 31 runs.
First pitch of the three-game series is set for Friday at 5:00 ET and will conclude with single games on Saturday and Sunday with both slated for 2:00 p.m. ET. The series can be followed via live stats.
