By: By Brandon Scardigli
KENNESAW, Ga. – After starting the year off with a 14-20 record, the Kennesaw State baseball team looked for a rallying cry following three straight Atlantic Sun Conference series losses. That's when assistant coach
Trey Fowler found the catalyst.
Fowler approached head coach
Mike Sansing with a simple idea, to hand out a pro-wrestling style championship belt to the player that performed the best following any KSU win.
The skipper approved of the idea and the belt has been around ever since.
"As a coach, you kind of look for anything to really rally the guys around," said Fowler. "We had a tough stretch to start off the year, so we were looking for something. And we used a wrestling motif in all of our speeches and scouting reports throughout the year and so it stuck. We only give it out for games that we win, and these guys like it so much they decided not to lose it often. If we do lose it has to come home with me and I haven't seen it much."
The belt was first handed out following a 3-0 shutout win at Georgia Southern with
Will Solomon the first to don the hardware after the lefty stepped up with two solid innings of relief in which he struck out four.
KSU then dropped the next two games at Florida Gulf Coast, but won the Sunday series finale, sparking off what came to be the nation's longest win streak at any point this season of 16 consecutive games.
The Owls have lost just once since then and now enter the NCAA Regionals as the hottest team in the country, having won 23-of-24 games.
To say the strap is the reason for the success would be irrational, but to ignore what the Owls have done since its conception would be equally absurd.
Prior to the belt being given away, KSU put together a 13-18 overall record, and questioned whether or not a conference tournament appearance would even be obtainable. But since that midweek win over the Eagles, KSU has gone 24-3 while earning the school's first ever A-Sun Tournament win.
"The crazy thing is that the belts been held by just about every member of this team at one point," added Fowler. "So it's been a different guy every day and that's what a special team is made of, of guys who can step up to the challenge when it's asked of them."
19 players have earned the award since it began, with just four players winning it more than once and
Brennan Morgan holding the most victories at three.
What started off as an attempt to drum up team spirit has turned into an all-out rallying point for the Owls, who took an upgraded version of the award back to Fort Myers, Florida, for the A-Sun Tournament, which KSU won with four straight victories.
The belt can be seen at every KSU game, hanging from the dugout rafters, awaiting the next worthy waist on a bus ride home from yet another Owl win.
The Owls, along with the belt, are making their way to Tallahassee, Florida, to take place in the Florida State regional. KSU's first game will be Friday, May 30, at noon ET and can be seen live on ESPN3.
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State baseball news, follow the team on Twitter
@KSUOwlNation and
@KSUOwlsBaseball or by liking Kennesaw State on
Facebook.
- #GoKSUOwls -
