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KENNESAW, Ga. – Senior
Kevin Kyle tossed six shutout innings of baseball on Saturday afternoon as the Owls earned the series win after a 6-3 victory over Evansville at Stillwell Stadium.
Kyle improves to 2-2 on the season, while Kennesaw State climbs to 9-6. Evansville drops to 3-9 on the year, as Kyle Freeland picked up the loss after allowing 11 hits that led to six runs scored.
For the third consecutive game, KSU scored in the first inning to take an early lead. The Owls picked up its first run on a double steal that platted
Andy Almonte, followed by an RBI single by
Bo Way that put the Black and Gold up 2-0.
The Owls would get after it again in third inning, belting four singles and scoring three runs to jump out to a 5-0 advantage.
Peyton Hart,
Jacob Bruce and Way all recorded singles and scored in the frame.
KSU tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth inning when
Alex Liquori scored on a
Kal Simmons single to left field.
Evansville would get on the board in the seventh inning with three runs off reliever
Kevin McCoy. After loading the bases on just one hit,
Justin McCalvin entered the game in search of a final out. The Purple Aces picked up back-to-back hits off McCalvin, closing the gap to a 6-3 game.
Jacob Moore threw a scoreless eighth inning before
James Connell closed out the game in the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season and help the Owls improve to 9-6.
“We were able to win today playing small ball,” Head Coach
Mike Sansing said. “We got runners on and made the right calls to advance and score runners today. It’s exciting to win the series, but with all series, your goal is to sweep and that’s what we hope to do tomorrow.”
Way led the Owls offensively with three hits, three RBI and a run scored. Coupled with a highlight reel catch in centerfield, the junior from Brunswick, Ga. improved his team leading batting average to .393 with 10 RBI. Simmons is also tied with 10 RBI after today, going 2-for-4 from the dish with an RBI.
Kennesaw State will look to earn the sweep in game three of the series, scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. Taking the mound for the Owls will be Will Solomon (1-1, 4.73) throwing against Kyle
Lloyd (1-1, 3.18).
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.
