Game 23: Kennesaw State (15-7) vs. Georgia State (13-12)
Date:  March 14, 2016
Location: Kennesaw, Ga. | Bailey Park
Series Record: Series tied, 16-16
Last Meeting: 2015, Georgia State won, 2-2 (8 inn.), in Atlanta, Ga.
Last Kennesaw State Win: 2014, Kennesaw State, 7-6, in Kennesaw, Ga.
Links: Live Stats | Twitter | KSU Stats (PDF)
 
ON DECK
Kennesaw State begins a busy week on Tuesday (Mar. 15) when it plays the first of five games in six days when it welcomes Georgia State to Bailey Park for a 5 p.m. contest.
 
The game will mark the second meeting of the season between the two teams as they previously met on Mar. 2 and the Panthers recorded a 2-1 victory in eight innings.
 
Following Tuesday's affair, the Owls will travel to Athens on Wednesday (Mar. 16) to play nationally-ranked Georgia at Turner Softball Field. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. The game will mark Kennesaw State's final non-conference contest before it opens Atlantic Sun Conference play on Saturday (Mar. 19) when it visits Jacksonville for a three-game series.
 
ABOUT GEORGIA STATE
Georgia State is 13-12 on the season and is coming off a series win at Troy to open Sun Belt Conference play. After dropping the opener 5-2, the Panthers came back to post 6-1 and 6-2 victories. Georgia State is batting .257 as a team and is led by Ivie Drake who is batting .377 with team-leading totals of six home runs and 17 RBIs. The Panthers have posted a 3.74 ERA with Katie Worley leading the staff with a 5-4 record and 3.41 ERA in a team-high 14 appearances.
 
THE LAST MEETING
Georgia State recorded a 2-1, eight-inning victory over the Owls on Mar. 2. A two-out single by Morgan Brown in the bottom of the eighth drove in the winning run that lifted the Panthers to the win. In a pitchers' duel, senior Emily Bishop gave Kennesaw State an early lead as she hit a double into left-center field that scored Hannah Thomason, who entered the game as a pinch-runner after Megan Veringa opened the second inning with a single. The lead held up until the sixth inning when the Panthers took advantage of a leadoff walk to push across a run against Monica Vickery. Georgia State's winning rally also began with a leadoff walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt ahead of Brown's game-winning hit against freshman Jenna Kniss. Missy Perkowski collected two of Kennesaw State's four hits.
 
NOTES
* Junior Logan Viers started three of the four games over the weekend and posted a 2-0 record and 1.66 ERA and a save. In 12 2/3 innings, she allowed eight hits, three runs, walked one and struck out nine. In two outings against Tennessee Tech, Viers went 2-0 with 0.00 ERA, pitching 10.0 innings, allowing six hits and striking out eight.
* With eight stolen bases over the weekend, senior Kara Chambers moved into third place on Kennesaw State's all-time career stolen base list with 46. She is three shy of moving into a tie with Tracey Britt (1991-94) for second place with 49.
* Chambers is the team-leader in stolen bases with 16 thefts in 17 attempts.
* Junior Taylor Denton is also moving up KSU's all-time stolen base list. After recording six stolen bases over the weekend, she is tied for fourth with Shannon McDonough (1994-98) with 44 career swipes.
* Following a shutout of Tennessee Tech, Kennesaw State improved to 12-2 when allowing two or fewer runs to its two opponents. The Owls also improved to 8-0 when scoring in the first inning and 13-3 when scoring first.
* Senior Missy Perkowski has reached base in a team-high eight consecutive games, while Chambers leads the team with a five-game hitting streak.
* Junior Logan Viers and senior Morgan Sikes each recorded their 100th career strikeout over the weekend. Viers has 105 career strikeouts, while Sikes has 100.
* Sutter has 18 career home runs and is one away from tying for 10th place on Kennesaw State's career home run list. Veringa has 17 homers and is also nearing the top 10.
* With 94 career RBIs, Veringa is six shy of 100.

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