By: KSU Sports Information
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MACON, Ga. – Receiving another stellar pitching performance, the Kennesaw State baseball team, backed by sophomore Steve Janas, shut out Mercer in a game two, 8-0 victory.
For the second game in a row, the Owls pitching staff stymied one of the nations best offensive teams. On Saturday it was Janas who would pick up the victory with seven innings of scoreless pitching. Janas would allow only one hit on the day and strike out nine Bears en route to earning his first win of the season.
In their seventh straight double-digit hit performance, Kennesaw belted 16 hits to take the Atlantic Sun Conference opening series from their in-state rival. Ronnie Freeman held the hottest bat at the plate as the junior had four hits and four RBI. Senior Aaron Dobbs had another terrific outing as well as he had three hits, with another three Owls batters cashing in on a multi-hit game.
“All around it was a very solid outing,” head coach Mike Sansing said. “Our pitching has done extremely well. Mercer has some good hitters and a lot of tough outs, but our guys are controlling both sides of the plate. We need to make sure we carry this momentum through the remainder of the weekend.”
Kennesaw’s first two runs of the game came in the second and third inning as Jacob Bruce singled in the second inning for the games first run, and Freeman followed with an RBI single in the third.
The Owls would go scoreless in the fourth and fifth, but would get one run in the sixth off an RBI sacrifice fly by Peyton Hart before opening the game wide open in the eighth and ninth inning.
KSU would strike for three runs in the eighth after a two RBI double by Freeman. Followed by an RBI by Andy Chriscaden, the Owls jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Adding two more runs in the ninth on an Andy Almonte sac fly and Freeman’s fourth hit of the night, the Black and Gold would seal the series with an 8-0 win.
Game three of the series is slated for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. E.T., as junior Kevin Kyle will be on the mound for Kennesaw. The Owls will be looking for their second successive series sweep as the team has won three series in a row.
