By: by Hunter McKay
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FORT MYERS, Fla. – Brennan Morgan's grand slam in the bottom of the10
th inning gave Kennesaw State an 11-7 victory over East Tennessee State in the first round of the Atlantic Sun Baseball Tournament.
"I didn't think it was getting out," Morgan said. "I just wanted to get the job done with a sacrifice fly and next thing I know it ends up behind the wall. One of those things with a fast ball up and I let it fly."
In a tied game in the bottom of the 10
th,
Max Pentecost belted a triple to left field with no outs. The Bucs then intentionally walked
Bo Way and
Chris McGowan before Morgan stepped and smacked his grand slam over the left field fence to give the Owls the win.
"I thought it was a battle back in forth game," head coach
Mike Sansing said. "We got ahead early and gave up some late there, but I thought the eighth inning was key with the three runs to be able to tie it. Our pitching kept it right there and there in the tenth Max gets the big hit and Brennan gets the bigger one. Great day!"
Morgan finished the game with four hits on the day to go along with five RBIs. The Owls collected 15 hits in the game.
"I was seeing the ball well with a lot of fast balls early in the count," Morgan said. "Just one of those days I came out to the ballpark feeling good about today."
Kennesaw State would grab the lead in the bottom of the second on an RBI double by
Matt Bahnick. Alex Liquori's RBI groundout gave the Owls a 2-0 lead after two.
ETSU would tie the game in the top of the third inning on a Jeremy Taylor RBI ground out and a Chris Cook RBI single.
The Owls would take a 3-2 lead on a Morgan single, which scored Way in the top of the fourth.
After ETSU took a 5-3 lead in the top of the fifth, Pentecost extended his hit streak to 36 games on an infield single and reaching second on a throwing error. Next up, Way singled to score Pentecost, which made it a 5-4 ballgame.
ETSU extended their lead to 7-4 after getting runs in the sixth and eighth innings.
In the bottom of the eighth when the team needed a rally, Pentecost opened up the inning with a hit followed up by Way double. Next up, McGowan would double to right field knocking in two runs. Bahnick's RBI single scored Mcgowan to tie it up going into the ninth.
The Bucs had a great chance to take the lead in the ninth, but
Justin McCalvin was able to come in and get the Owls out of a bases loaded jam to keep the game tied.
McCalvin picked up his fourth win on the hill after coming in and pitching the final two scoreless innings for the Owls.
The victory gives KSU their 16th straight conference win dating back to the regular season. The win improves the Owls overall record to 34-21. The victory pushes the Owls in to the winners bracket where they will play the winner of Stetson and Mercer on Thursday (May 22) at 5 p.m.
At the plate it was another multi-hit game for Pentecost who notched three hits while scoring a run. Way was good for four hits and scored four runs. Bahnick would add two hits and two RBIs as well.
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