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MURFEESBORO, Tenn. – The Kennesaw State baseball team fell 11-1 to Middle Tennessee State in the opener of a three-game series on a cold and snowy Friday evening at Reese Smith Jr. Field.
MTSU (7-2) took advantage of back-to-back hits to open the game against Owls starter
Travis Dean. Johnny Thomas led off the inning with a single and scored on a Trent Miller double to left field that gave the Blue Raiders a 1-0 lead.
The Raiders tacked on another run in the fifth inning after loading the bases with one out. Trevor Haggard looped a deep fly ball that carried into foul territory that allowed Heath Slatton to score on the sacrifice fly.
Slatton returned to the plate in the sixth inning and produced a two-out RBI single that scored Miller and gave Middle Tennessee State a 3-0 advantage. The trouble would continue in the inning as Owls reliever
Kevin McCoy walked Robert Lawrence to load the bases before Ryan Stephens hit a bases-clearing double that increased the Blue Raiders' lead to 6-0.
McCoy then struck out Ryan Ford to prevent further damage in the inning as Middle Tennessee State sent nine batters to the plate.
The Owls (6-4) finally broke through for a run in the eighth inning on an RBI single by
Bo Way. However, the Blue Raiders broke the game open with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.
MTSU out hit the Owls, 11-9. Blue Raiders starter Hunter Adkins (3-0) tossed seven scoreless innings to earn the win. Dean (1-2) suffered the loss for the Owls after working 5.1 innings and allowing five hits and four earned runs.
Peyton Hart went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the KSU offense, while six other Owls had one hit apiece.
Game two of the series is slated for 3 p.m. on Saturday with
Kevin Kyle (LHP (1-1, 3.27) throwing against Johnathan Frebis (LHP, 1-0, 0.00).
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.
