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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Kennesaw State baseball team earned a trip to the NCAA Regional Championship game with a 13-5 victory over Georgia Southern in 11 innings late on Saturday night.
 
The Owls have now won nine straight and 25-of-26 with the late night victory, tying the largest margin of victory in an NCAA Postseason extra-inning game.
 
KSU will now face the winner of the Alabama vs. Georgia Southern elimination game on Sunday, June 1, at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN3.
 
"It was an unbelievable game," said Kennesaw State head coach Mike Sansing. "I can't say enough about the guy's competitiveness. We're here for 10 hours and it wears you down for sure. Overall, you look at it, 13 guys left on base which was critical for us until we got into extra innings. We had some scoring opportunities that we didn't get and obviously we had the huge inning. Our pitching did pretty well. I was happy with all our guys."
 
Unlike the game one win over Alabama, the Owls got the offense going early, putting up a run in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead right out of the gates.
 
Jacob Bruce reached first on the fielder's choice before stealing second, his 11^th of the year, with Bo Way stepping up and driving the RBI single back up the middle, scoring Bruce and putting the Owls in command.
 
But Georgia Southern answered, taking the lead with four runs in the home half of the first off of just one hit, three walks, a hit batter and an error to take the 4-1 lead.
 
KSU was able to get one back, cutting the lead in half in the top of the fourth with a sacrifice fly from Kal Simmons, scoring Alex Liquori who led off the inning with a walk.
 
Cornell Nixon advanced two runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt in the inning before the sacrifice fly to bring the GSU lead down to 4-2.
 
The Eagles then made up the ground in the bottom of the fifth, Hunter Thomas knocking a double to deep right-center field to score one, putting Georgia Southern back on top by three at 5-2.
 
But the Owls weren't done, Justin Motley coming up with the pinch-hit double down the right field line in the top of the sixth. Nixon then singled, advancing Motley to third with Simmons coming up with his second RBI of the night with a base hit up the middle, scoring Motley and cutting the GSU lead to 5-3.
 
Nixon and Simmons then went for back to back singles before lightning delayed the game for nearly two hours. Following the postponement, GSU pitcher Jason Richman sent a pickoff attempt to the centerfield wall, the error scored both Nixon and Simmons to tie it up at five.
 
KSU put a man on third in the eighth and loaded up the bases with one out in the ninth, but failed to bring the go-ahead run in. Clutch relief pitching from James Connell, who struck out the side in the eighth, and Justin McCalvin who sat down the Eagles in order in the ninth, sent the game into extras.
 
Pentecost started off the 11^th by lining out before Way reached on the error before stealing a base. Chris McGowan drew the intentional walk with Brennan Morgan driving in the game-winner on a single.
 
From there the Owls teed off on GSU relief pitching, Motley grounding into a fielder's choice for the second out and Jeremey Howell drawing the walk. Nixon then kept the two-out rally alive with a two-run single before being driven in by Simmons.
 
Jacob Bruce then knocked his first hit of the game to score Nixon with Pentecost coming back around, this time shooting a double off the right field wall to score two more.
 
Way singled in Pentecost before the end of the 11^th, KSU scoring eight runs on six hits to go up 13-5.
 
McCalvin then slammed the door on the Eagles, earning his fifth win of the season after the 1-2-3 inning.
 
"We never really got down on ourselves," said Morgan. "I don't know if our team has ever really been down or out of a fight. We've been down two, three runs, we were down eight runs to Georgia State at one point and came back and won that one. It's almost like we're expecting someone to step up and someone is always stepping up. It's something special have going on and you can't put your finger on it. But everyone is stepping up at the right times."
 
KSU fell just one hit shy of tying a season-high with 20 hits in the ballgame, four of those coming from Pentecost. The catcher drove in a pair of runs with a double and two walks as well.
 
Simmons had himself a 3-hit night with three RBIs and two runs scored while Way, Morgan and Nixon each posted three hits as well.
 
After replacing starter Jordan Hillyer on the mound, Nathan Harsh posted a 4.2 inning outing, giving up just one run on four hits with three strikeouts.
 
Will Solomon then went the next two allowing just one hits before Connell and McCalvin held the Eagles quiet.
 
KSU will take on either the Crimson Tide or the Eagles tomorrow, needing just one win to advance to the NCAA Super Regional round.

To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State baseball news, follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsBaseball or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
  






 

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