By: KSU Sports Information
Box Score
TAMPA, Fla. – The Kennesaw State Owls capped off their seven-game trip to the state of Florida by dropping a, 7-4, decision to the Toledo Rockets on Sunday in the finale of the USF Under Armour Showcase. They finish the week with a 4-3 record overall and a 3-2 mark in the five-game event.
Coming off of a 1-1 showing on Saturday evening, the Owls (14-11) fell behind 5-1 after allowing four runs in the second inning and another one in the fourth, but clawed back to make it a contest against the Rockets (6-15) with some clutch hitting in the bottom of the fifth.
There were two outs in the fifth with Kaylee William and Jensen Hackett, who had both drawn walks, on base, when Jessica Cross stepped to the plate and delivered a triple on a 2-1 pitch that got through the infield and rolled all the way to wall, scoring Williams and Hackett to make it 5-3. She would be followed to the plate by Sharon Swanson, who laced a 1-1 offering into center field to score Cross and make it, 5-4.
That would be as close as they would come the rest of the way, however. Monica Vickery would toss scoreless fifth and sixth innings in relief of Jessica Cross, who allowed three earned runs in four innings of work. In the seventh, however, Toledo would tack on two more runs when they loaded the bases with nobody out before a walk by Vickery and the second of two Owls errors on the day made it 7-4.
Toledo’s four runs in the second came by way of four hits and an Owls error. All seven of the Rockets’ hits on the day were singles.
Kaylee Williams drove in the first Owls run of the day with a two-out double that would score Brittany Moore.
Kennesaw State’s defeat was their second straight, after falling to Syracuse on Friday evening by a score of 8-1. The two losses come on the heels of a four-game winning streak, which started during the second game at Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday evening and continued through the first two days of the Under Armour.
“Despite going 3-2 this weekend, I still think we need to find consistency as a ball club,” Owls head coach Scott Whitlock said. “We’re 25 games in, and we should be more consistent than we are right now day in and day out, and I’m responsible for making sure that that happens from here on out.”
The Black and Gold will play their official 2012 home opener on Saturday, when they host Georgia State for a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Weekend Notes:
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Jensen Hackett, who was 7-for-11 over the last three games, and
Bianca Durant, who was 10-for-14 over the last four, were both hitless on Sunday.
-Durant (.588),
Jessica Cross (.444), and Hackett (.412), led the Owls in batting average during the five-game weekend.
-The Owls were 3-2 in the USF Under Armour Showcase in 2012 after going 0-3 in the event in 2010.
-Kennesaw State is 14-11 after 25 games, the third straight year in which they have won at least 14 games at this point in the season.
-The Owls are now 0-4 all-time against Toledo, and are 2-1 against Mid American Conference opponents this season.
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Carly Van Auken, who usually bats in the number two spot in the lineup, and Hackett, who is usually ninth, switched spots during Sunday’s game.
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Sharon Swanson ends the weekend leading the Atlantic Sun Conference with 23 RBI and a slugging percentage of .863.
