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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Kennesaw State baseball team dropped a low-scoring pitcher's duel at North Florida on Thursday (May 14) evening, falling to the Ospreys 2-1. The game, which lasted just two hours and eight minutes, was played at Harmon Stadium.

With the win, UNF (41-13, 15-4) extend its winning streak to 13 games and snapped a five-game losing skid to KSU (27-25, 9-9).

With two high profile lineups entering the weekend, pitching was the story for the opening game as Kennesaw State's Jordan Hillyer and North Florida's Evan Incinelli matched each other inning-for-inning on the mound.

Hillyer (4-4), a Dacula, Georgia native, allowed just two runs on seven hits over 8.0 innings of work. The righthander struck out six Ospreys in the tough-luck loss. The outing marked the fifth time this season Hillyer went at least eight innings, and the fourth straight start going at least seven frames.

"I thought Jordan [Hillyer] threw extremely well tonight. North Florida is an excellent hitting team and Hillyer was great tonight," head coach Mike Sansing said. "He controlled the innings and we got to back that up with scoring some runs."

On the other side of the mound was Incinelli, who was just as good on the hill. Incinelli (5-3) allowed one run on seven hits over 7.2 innings of work. The righthander also struck out five Owl batters to match Hillyer throughout the game to earn the hard-fought win.

Both offenses came to life in the third inning after two scoreless frames, as the Owls grabbed a lead with a run in the top half of the inning. After the Ospreys recorded two quick outs, KSU's top of the lineup produced three straight hits as Chris Erwin's RBI single pushed across freshman teammate Grant Williams for a 1-0 edge.

North Florida, though, answered in the bottom half of the frame with a two-out, two-run homer off the bat of Donnie Dewees to take a 2-1 lead.

That would be all Hillyer allowed the rest of the ballgame, retiring 15 of his final 18 batters though the eighth inning. The junior pitcher retired nine of 10 Ospreys from the fourth inning through the sixth, keeping the slight 2-1 UNF advantage intact.

But, Dewees' home run in the third inning proved to be enough as UNF's bullpen shut down the Owls over the final 1 1/3 innings of play to take game one of the weekend series.

KSU's Kal Simmons (2-for-4), Erwin (1-for-4, RBI) and Taylor Allum (2-for-3) paced the Owls' lineup on the night.

Kennesaw State will take on North Florida in game two of its scheduled weekend series Friday (May 15) afternoon at 3 p.m.

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.