KENNESAW STATE BASEBALL UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tues, March 31	vs. Western Carolina	Stillwell Stadium, Kennesaw, Ga.	W, 9-2	Release
Thurs, April 2	at Stetson	Melching Field, Deland, Fla.	6:30 p.m. ET	Live Stats
Frid, April 3	at Stetson	Melching Field, Deland, Fla.	6:30 p.m. ET	Live Stats
Sat, April 4	at Stetson	Melching Field, Deland, Fla.	1 p.m. ET	Live Stats

About The Owls
• Kennesaw State enters the week with a 15-13 overall record and a 2-1 mark in league play.  The Owls won their first midweek game since visiting Mercer on Feb. 18 when KSU defeated Western Carolina 9-2 on Tuesday evening.
• The Kennesaw State University baseball program are in the midst of its 32nd season of varsity play in 2015.
• The Owls are in the midst of its 10th season in the Atlantic Sun Conference, joining the Division I ranks in 2006. Kennesaw State entered the season with an all-time record of 1,114-651-2 (.631) in 31 seasons.
• The Black and Gold entered the season with an all-time record of 265-231 (.534) in the A-Sun since joining the league in 2006.
• KSU won the school's first-ever Division I Championship in 2014, defeating Lipscomb in the title game
 
Mr. 1,000 vs. Mr. 1,000
* Head coach Mike Sansing achieved the extraordinary on Friday, March 27, earning his 1,000th career victory in a 5-0 win over USC Upstate.
• Coach Sansing became the 72^nd NCAA Division I collegiate baseball head coach to complete the milestone; senior associate athletics director Scott Whitlock—who also put together a 27-year career as the KSU head softball coach, referred to mark as a "mythical milestone".
• Sansing now boosts a 1,001-532 (.653) all-time record. He began his collegiate coaching for three seasons at Shorter, compiling a 102-55 record before being announced as the skipper for the Owls on August 21, 1991.
• Sansing has two national championships, 20 Coach of the Year honors, 10 national tournament appearances and over 40 players drafted in the MLB. The program reached new heights in 2014 when it advanced to the 2014 Super Regional after defeating Alabama in the Tallahassee Regional, capping off the most successful season at the Division I level.
• Speaking of success, coach Sansing and the Owls recently added to their trophy showcase at the Atlanta Sports Awards on March 5. KSU was honored as the Team of the Year, presented by PrimeSport.
• It didn't end there, former KSU All-American Max Pentecost was voted Collegiate Athlete of the Year, presented by AT&T.
• Coach Sansing joined Pete Dunn as the only two current Atlantic Sun skippers to achieve the milestone. Coach Dunn and Sansing will face each other in a three-game set this weekend (April 2-4) in Deland, Florida.
• Coach Dunn, who has been at the helm of the Hatters' program for 35 seasons, entered the season 1,254-827-3 all-time record.
 
Play Ball
• Kennesaw State will return to the road this weekend, traveling to Deland, Florida for an Atlantic Sun series showdown at Melching Field. The Owls will come into the weekend with a 4-6 overall record on the season –all of which are non-conference games.
 • The Owls are batting .251 (89-for-354) in 10 road games this season, compiling 21 doubles, one triple and nine home runs. Kennesaw State is slugging .393 on the road, while totaling a .322 on-base percentage against its road opponents.
• KSU's most successful inning on the road this season has been the second frame, outscoring its opponents 15-4. In fact, the Owls are 13-3 when scoring the first run this season, which gives them a big advantage when scoring early in the second inning.
• Kennesaw State has totaled nine home runs in its 10 road games this season, compiling at least one homer in seven of those games with two multi-homer games –one at Mercer (Feb. 18) and the other at Winthrop (March 15).
• The Owls average 5.0 runs per game on 8.9 hits in their 10 road games this season.
 
Atlantic Sun Dominance
• Kennesaw State will enter the A-Sun weekend showdown with the Hatters winners of its last 20 of 21 conference games. The Owls dropped their first conference game last weekend to USC Upstate since losing to Florida Golf Coast on April 5, 2014 –winners of 20 consecutive games until last Saturday (March 28, 2015).
• The Owls have reeled off 19 consecutive wins, including the conference tournament, against Atlantic Sun opponents in 2014.
• During that stretch, the Owls batted .344 (236-for-686) as a team, compiling 37 doubles, nine triples and 16 home runs to help earn their first-ever Division I championship in 2014.
* The Owls' record sat at 2-9 in conference play before the streak, batting .269 (101-for-376) as a team, compiling just 3 doubles, three triples and five homers before they started the hot streak.
* Kennesaw State sits at 2-1 this season in A-Sun play, compiling a team average of .359 (37-for-103), 37 hits, two doubles and two home runs. The Owls also have 22 RBI and a .437 slugging percentage during the early stages of conference play this season.
 
Scouting Stetson
• The Owls will enter their second weekend of league play on April 2-4, traveling to Deland, Florida to take on Stetson.
• Kennesaw State is an impressive 8-1 over its last nine games against the Hatters, outscoring Stetson by a dominant 65-27 margin in those games.
• Stetson will enter the weekend with an even 15-15 mark. The three-game series will be the Hatters' opening Atlantic Sun conference series in 2015.
• Stetson is coming off a Tuesday midweek non-conference win against South Florida after dropping three straight games to Creighton at TD Ameritrade Stadium from March 27-29.
• Pete Dunn, who has been at helm of the program for 35 seasons, entered the season with 1,254-827-3 record with the Hatters. Coach Sansing joined Dunn as the only two coaches in the Atlantic Sun with over 1,000 victories last week.
• Mitchell Jordan is slated to start for the Hatters on Thursday. He is 0-1 with an EA of 5.09 in four starts. He has compiled 20 strikeouts to just six walks in 17.2 innings of work on the mound.
• Brooks Wilson is schedule to start Friday night's showdown against Kennesaw State. He is 6-2 overall with a 3.43 ERA in five starts, but owns 11 appearances in all of 2015. Wilson has compiled a team-leading 30 strikeouts to 13 walks in 44.2 innings on the mound.
• Walker Sheller will most likely wrap-up the weekend series on Saturday, He owns a 2-4 record and a 4.67 ERA in 14 appearances. He has allowed 28 hits and a .275 batting average against in 27.0 innings of work on the hill.
• Vance Vizcaino will lead the Hatters' offense entering league play, compiling a .336 batting average in 29 starts. He is the owner of 40 hits, nine doubles and three triples.
• Corey Reid will also play a major factor in Stetson's lineup over the weekend. He owns a .319 batting average with 38 hits. Reid has eight doubles, a team-leading five triples and one home run on the season.
• Patrick Mazeika leads the team with five home runs on the season. He also owns six doubles and one triple for a .515 slugging percentage.
 
William's Red-Hot Stick
• Grant Williams batted an impressive .562 (9-for-16) last week, leading the Owls' attack at the plate to help score 31 total runs in five games.
• Williams totaled at least one hit in each game for Kennesaw State, including an impressive 3-for-4 performance Friday night against USC Upstate.
• The freshman from Atlanta, Georgia compiled one double, six runs scored and five RBI last week.
• Williams is currently on an eight game hitting streak, going 16-for-29 (.551) during the stretch.
• In all, Williams is batting .355 with two doubles and 13 Raising his point total over more than 50 points over the last several weeks.   
 
Masterful Performance
• Jordan Hillyer showcased another masterful performance on the mound Friday (March 27) evening in the Atlantic Sun Conference opener. The junior from Dacula, Georgia tossed his first-ever complete game in his KSU career, allowing just two hits while striking out 11 batters.
• Hillyer entered the weekend leading the A-Sun in strikeouts and fanned 11 more to give him 57 on the year. Hillyer is 3-2 with an ERA of 1.85 in 43.2 innings of work this season.
* Hillyer earned his career Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Week honors Monday (March 23) afternoon.
• Hillyer tossed a career-high 13 strikeouts against William and Mary in a 3-2 win on Friday night.
• Hillyer also was tabbed one of seven Louisville Slugger Player of the Week, honors on March 23, 2015.
* The right-handed pitcher added to his awards on Monday, March 30 when the Atlantic Sun announced Hillyer was tabbed as Pitcher of the Week for his masterful performance Friday (March 27) evening.
 
Bergen Completes The Two-Headed Monster
• Speaking of masterful performances, junior lefty Travis Bergen followed Hillyer's outing with one of his own Saturday afternoon.
• Bergen, who leads the team with 46.2 innings on the hill, pitched a three-hit shutout in his 7.0 innings of work on the mound Saturday afternoon. Bergen allowed no runs on just three hits, fanning career-high 12 batters in his outing.
• The lefty struck out seven of his first eight batters faced and tossed four 1-2-3 innings. Bergen is 3-2 with an ERA of 2.51 on the season.
 
Bullpen Closes The Door
• Four relievers closed the door on any possible Catamount comeback in Tuesday's midweek showdown, working four shutout innings to earn a 9-2 win over Western Carolina.
• Kendall Hawkins tossed 1.0 innings, allowing just one walk and struck out three in his frame of work. He is 1-1 this season in four appearances. Hawkins earned a win against then-no. 25 Liberty on opening day back in February.
• Mason Ward, Tony Dibrell and Will Lowman all followed with scoreless innings.
• The four combined to strikeout eight batters and allowed just two hits to secure the midweek game on Tuesday night at Stillwell Stadium.  
 
Up Next
• Kennesaw State will continue its road-heavy schedule, traveling to Troy, Alabama on Wednesday before trekking to Northern Kentucky in Highland Heights, Kentucky for Atlantic Sun action.
 


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Season tickets are currently on sale for the full 29-game home schedule at $39 per ticket. Single-game tickets are also available at $6 for adults and $4 for youth (ages 3-12). Group tickets for 10 or more people are available for advanced purchase, excluding the Georgia (Feb. 17), Georgia Tech (Mar. 17) and Georgia Southern (Mar. 24) games when individual tickets will be $10 for adults and $6 for youth. To order season tickets click here, or contact the KSU Athletic Ticket Office at 470-578-OWLS (6957).

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