By: KSU Sports Information
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State baseball team got the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning as it held on to win the rubber game of its three-game series against Belmont, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at Stillwell Stadium.
The win improves the Owls to 26-17 (12-6 A-Sun) for the season, while the loss drops the Bruins to 27-16 (12-6 A-Sun) on the year. The victory now gives KSU the tiebreaker over Belmont for second in the conference standings as it now only trails USC Upstate by one game for first place.
For the first time in the series it was the Black and Gold who jumped out to the early lead as they came out swinging against Belmont starter James Buckelew.
Senior
Aaron Dobbs led off the game with a walk, then stole second base and eventually got to third after a
Peyton Hart fly out. Junior
Andy Almonte, who went 3-for-3 on the day, got the Owls on the scoreboard driving in Dobbs with an RBI single to left field. With two outs in the inning, and Almonte now standing on third base, senior
Andy Chriscaden gave Kennesaw State a little more breathing room as he blasted his 11th homerun of the season over the right field wall to make the score 3-0 after one inning.
Chriscaden now leads the Atlantic Sun Conference with 45 RBI’s on the season, and he also extended his hitting streak to 10 games with the blast.
KSU starter
Kevin Kyle cruised through the first four innings, but he ran into a little bit of trouble in the top of the fifth as Belmont finally got to him for three runs on four hits in the frame.
To his credit though, Kyle didn’t let that rattle him as he went on to pitch a very good game for the Owls. The Atlanta, Ga. native finished with a final line of seven and a third innings pitched giving up three runs on 11 hits. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter in his outing.
The Black and Gold broke the 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning as they saw a familiar face step up in the clutch. Senior
Jordan Craft, whose double gave KSU the win on Friday night, stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and only one out. Craft lifted a fly ball to left field which was deep enough to score Chriscaden from third base making the score, 4-3, in favor of the Owls.
Sophomore
Justin McCalvin shut the door on Belmont sitting them down in order in the top of the ninth inning to pick up the victory, and give the Owls the series.
Kennesaw State will be back in action on April 24 as it will travel to Birmingham, Ala. to take on UAB at 6:30 p.m. C.T.
