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AUBURN, Ala. – For the second week in a row the Kennesaw State baseball team has knocked off an SEC opponent as the Owls beat Auburn on Tuesday night 9-2 at Hitchcock Field. KSU improves to 5-3 on the season while the Tigers drop to 6-2.
Kennesaw State took advantage of Auburn’s untimely errors, breaking the game open with seven unearned runs in the sixth and seventh inning. Kennesaw State tallied 12 hits on the evening compared to the Tigers seven. Leading the offense was freshman
Alex Liquori who went 3-for-5 from the plate with two RBI in a spot start.
“I thought tonight was our first complete game. We played well in all aspects of the game and received a total performance from everyone,” Head Coach Mike Sansing said. “This was a good win for us and I hope we can carry it over into tomorrow and the weekend.”
The Owls struck first with two runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Chris McGowan opened with the first of four consecutive singles and later came around to score the game’s first run on an RBI up the middle by Liquori.
Liquori would score on a wild pitch on the first pitch thrown by Auburn’s reliever Chase Williamson to give the Black and Gold a 2-0 advantage.
The offense did most of its damage in the sixth inning, scoring five runs on four hits.
Anthony Duran drove in the first two runs with a single and was followed by a bases clearing triple by
Kal Simmons that put KSU up 7-0.
The pitching staff continued its successful season, pitching out of bases loaded jams in both the second and fourth inning. Starting pitcher Steve Janas worked his way out of a bases loaded one out situation in the second, throwing two innings and allowing only two hits and recording three strikeouts in his second start of the season.
Colton Cross came on in relief in the third inning, pitching out of a two out bases load jam in the fourth to strand the seventh runner of the game for the Tigers. Cross gave up the only two runs in the sixth inning, but picked up the win, throwing four innings with four hits allowed.
The Owls would get both runs back in the top of the seventh inning with RBI singles by both Andy Almonte and Liquori to put KSU up 9-2.
Catlan Kendrick threw a perfect seventh and eighth frame with three strikeouts to set the ninth inning up for
James Connell who preserved the win.
The bottom three in the Owls lineup went a combined 7-for-14 with seven RBI and three runs scored.
“It was great to see that type of offense from those three,” Sansing stated. “It is always a plus to have that kind of balance in your lineup and know that any player, one through nine in the lineup can win a game for you.”
Kennesaw State returns to action on Wednesday at 5 p.m. E.T. against Alabama State. KSU owns a lifetime record of 10-0 against the Hornets. Keep up with Owls baseball all season by following KSU on Twitter
@KSUOwlNation and
@KSUOwlsBaseball, or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on Facebook.
Kennesaw State University is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
