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TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
DELAND, Fla. – After defeating Lipscomb in an elimination game on Saturday morning, the Owls didn’t miss a beat, coming out later that afternoon to take care of North Florida, 5-2, to make it to the final day of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
The win sets up a third-game rubber match for KSU (29-29) against UNF (40-18) with the winner of the 1 p.m. ET contest facing off against East Tennessee State at 4:15 p.m. ET in the one-game, winner take all championship matchup. Both games can be heard on
KSU All Access as well as seen on
ESPN3.
KSU is now one of the final three teams remaining in the tournament after never trailing to North Florida in the contest, avenging a 12-inning loss to the Ospreys on Friday night that sent the Owls into the loser’s bracket on Saturday morning where KSU sent home Lipscomb with a 4-2 win.
After the teams played three scoreless at Melching Field, KSU put across three in the top of the fourth after a two RBI single from
Chris McGowan (Lawrenceville, Ga./Collins Hill HS) that scored seniors
Peyton Hart (Sandy Cross, Ga./Franklin County HS) and
Andy Almonte (Moca, Puerto Rico/Gordon College). McGowan was then driven in by
Jacob Bruce (Woodstock, Ga./Woodstock HS) for the 3-0 lead.
In the fifth, the Owls added on two more, another from a McGowan walk with the bases loaded before designated hitter
Dylan Ivey (Winder, Ga./Winder-Barrow HS) scampered home on an error from North Florida catcher Corey Bass, putting the Owls up by five.
The Ospreys threatened with the bases loaded in the fifth and put across two runs in the seventh on two walks, a hit and a hit batter before relief pitcher
Colton Cross (Ringgold, Ga./Ringgold HS) slammed the door shut on UNF in the bottom of the ninth, keeping the Owls’ A-Sun Championship dreams alive.
Starting pitcher
Travis Dean (Boston, Mass./Newton South HS) took the win on the hill after going 6.2 innings allowing just two runs on five hits and striking out five, giving the junior his fourth win of the year. Cross earned his first save of the season after going the final 2.1 giving up just one hit.
The Owls racked up eight hits on UNF, two each from Almonte, McGowan,
Max Pentecost (Winder, Ga./Winder-Barrow HS) and
Alex Liquori (Brooks, Ga./Whitewater HS). Bruce is now hitting over .450 through the A-Sun Tournament.
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.
