By: KSU Sports Information
Box Scores: Game 1 Game 2
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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls struggled to find their footing on Saturday afternoon, dropping both games in a doubleheader against the Georgia Southern Eagles at Bailey Park, 5-1 and 10-4. They play the finale of the three-game series Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
It was a tale of two games for the Owls (16-14), who struggled offensively in the opener to the tune of just two hits, before Georgia Southern (19-10) took off at the plate in the second game of the day, scoring three or more runs in three different innings to outpace the Black and Gold.
The Eagles took a quick, 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opener against starter Abbey Mixon, but the Owls were able to even it up when Lindsay Vollmer launched a 2-2 pitch over the left centerfield fence with the bases empty for her sixth home run of the season.
The score would stay that way until the top of the fifth inning, when Georgia Southern would connect on four hits in the frame on the way to scoring three runs. They began their rally by taking back the lead on a solo home run to left field by Alex Lewis with one out, the first of three straight hits by the visitors. Their second and third runs of the inning would be unearned, with the first coming around on an Owls error and the next on a two-out base hit to make it 4-1. They would add one more in the seventh inning against reliever Monica Vickery when Marie Fogle hit a solo shot over the left field fence to make it 5-1.
Scott Whitlock’s club would take an early lead in the second game of the twin bill, when singles by Natalie Rhodes, Jessica Cross and Vollmer would load the bases for Brittany Moore with one out in the first inning, who plated the first run by being hit by a pitch from Georgia Southern Brooke Red. That would be all they would they would get across in the opening frame, foreshadowing the rest of the contest.
A Jensen Hackett single in the second inning would drive in Olivia Rutledge to give the Owls a 2-0 lead, but Georgia Southern would storm back with three in the top of the third, Hanna Ennis hitting a two-run home run to tie things up with nobody out off of Owls starter Jessica Cross before Marie Fogle doubled later in the inning before eventually coming home to score on a wild pitch.
The Eagles began to pull away in the top of the fifth inning when, with Monica Vickery in the circle for the Owls, Andrea Tarashuk hit a one-out three-run home run to make it, 6-2.
Kennesaw State would try to make it a game, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth when Williams connected on a two-out base hit that scored Moore and Cross to make it, 6-4. Georgia Southern would unload for four runs in the top of the seventh, though, on four hits, putting the game away.
Williams, Cross and Vollmer all had two hits in the second game for the Owls.
Mixon would go six innings for the Owls in the opener, giving up four runs, two of them earned, on eight hits, while striking out seven. Cross, who started the second game, would allow three runs on five hits over four innings before giving way to Vickery and Mixon on relief.
The Black and Gold wrap up their first-ever three-game series on Sunday, when they host the Eagles for one game beginning at 1 p.m. The first 300 fans in attendance will receive Owls bumper stickers. Sunday is also Sundae Fun Day at Bailey Park, with youth being able to make their own ice cream sundaes in a souvenir Owls mini-helmet.
