BOX SCORE (XML) |
BOX SCORE (PDF) |
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
DELAND, Fla. – The Kennesaw State baseball team pulled through with a tying run in the top of the ninth inning to knot the game up at seven, but couldn’t hold off North Florida, falling to the Ospreys in 12 innings in a heartbreaking loss for the Owls, 8-7.
The seventh seeded Owls, now 27-29, will play the six seed Lipscomb in an elimination game Saturday, May 25, at 10 a.m. ET. The winner will then play North Florida at 5 p.m. ET.
With the game tied at three against No. 3 UNF (40-17) in the top of the fifth, catcher
Max Pentecost (Winder, Ga./Winder-Barrow HS) blasted his second homerun in as many games to put the Owls on top, 6-3, sending the baseball over the leftfield wall, scoring
Chris McGowan (Lawrenceville, Ga./Collins Hill HS) and
Bo Way (Brunswick, Ga./Glynn Academy) for the lead.
UNF responded in the bottom half, however, scoring four runs to take its first lead of the game, 7-6.
In the top of the ninth it was senior
Peyton Hart (Sandy Cross, Ga./Franklin County HS) who came through, picking up the RBI, sending home McGowan for the third time in the ballgame for the tying run.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Ospreys put the winning run on third, but clutch pitching from the Owls and stout defense got KSU out of the jam, sending the game into extras.
Both teams put a runner on in each of the three extra innings, the Owls putting two in scoring position, but it was an infield chopper with a runner on third and one out from UNF’s Tyler Furgeson that put the game away for the Ospreys in the 10
th, sending home the game-winner.
The Owls had jumped on the scoreboard early on UNF, picking up three runs in the top of the first thanks to RBIs from McGowan, Pentecost and
Jacob Bruce (Woodstock, Ga./Woodstock HS). UNF then put up a pair in the home half of the opening inning and one more in the third before Pentecost’s big blast in the fifth.
It was
Will Solomon (Columbus, Ga./Columbus HS) who gave up the game winning run, taking the loss despite going just two-thirds of an inning in relief. KSU sent eight pitchers to the mound during the contest.
Offensively, KSU out-hit its opponent, 15-9, with five batters picking up multi-hit games. Bruce had a 4-for-5 night to lead both teams, all singles, with a RBI.
Andy Almonte (Moca, Puerto Rico/Gordon College), Way, McGowan and Pentecost each picked up two hits in the contest, Way and McGowan each belting a double.
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.
