By: KSU Sports Information Department
KENNESAW, Ga. - Kennesaw State will conclude its homestand on Tuesday evening as they face the No. 8-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Stillwell Stadium in the final meeting of the season between the two teams.
The Owls (18-12) will play their second top 10 team of the year as they faced then No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt in Nashville in early March. Freshman right-hander Travis Dean (1-2, 5.79) will meet Matthew Grimes (4-1, 4.05) in a rematch of their first meeting, a 7-4 Georgia Tech win on Mar. 8 in Atlanta.
The game will be the 16th meeting all-time between the teams with the Yellow Jackets holding a 12-3 lead in the series. The teams have split four games at Stillwell Stadium, with the Owls winning, 7-4, last year. The Owls defeated the Yellow Jackets, 12-2, in 1987, and in 2007 they defeated Georgia Tech, 6-4, at The Shake.
Kennesaw State enters the game having won three of the last four games and rides a two-game winning streak into the contest. The Owls defeated Southern Illinois on a Drew Fowlkes walk-off single on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, powered by consecutive home runs by Ronnie Freeman, Andy Chriscaden and Peyton Hart, the Owls took a 10-6 decision from Salukis.
Georgia Tech (23-6), concludes a four-game road trip and enters the game having split their last four contests. The Yellow Jackets lost to Mercer last week before taking two-of-three games from Duke over the weekend. However, the Jackets had previously won 16 straight games.
Ronnie Freeman and Andy Chriscaden lead the Kennesaw State attack, as they must battle a Georgia Tech pitching staff that is second in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a paltry 2.14 team earned run average.
Freeman is coming off a monster week in which he hit .588 (10-for-17) with seven doubles and two home runs. Meanwhile, Chriscaden is riding a 13-game hitting streak, matching Freeman for the Owls longest streak of the season. The junior slugger is 5-foir-14 for the week with three home runs and nine runs batted in.
Freshman centerfielder Kyle Wren leads the ACC in batting with a .419 average; he also tops the league in hits and runs scored. Jake Davies (.400) and Matt Skole (.389), both juniors, are fourth and fifth in the conference in batting. The Yellow Jackets lead the ACC with a .331 team average.
First-pitch between the Owls and the No. 8-ranked Yellow Jackets is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. and can be followed via live stats at www.ksuowls.com. The game also be seen live at ASUN.TV with Dave Albert calling the action.
Tonight's game also marks "Prostate Cancer Awareness Night" where all fans are encouraged to wear baby blue and the first 200 fans will receive a baby blue Owls hat. Tickets for adults are $10 and children 8th grade and under are $5. To purchase tickets please visit
http://ksuowls.first-sports.com/.
