TOP OF THE ORDER• Kennesaw State will be in search of its third straight series win when it welcomes North Florida to Bailey Park for a three-game series beginning Saturday (April 2)
• The series opens with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. and concludes with the series finale Sunday (April 3) at 1 p.m.
• Saturday's doubleheader will be available on A-Sun TV with Dave Garner handling the play-by-play. All three games can also be followed via live stats at www.ksuowls.com.
• The Owls enter this weekend with a 20-13 overall record, including a 4-2 mark in A-Sun Conference play. Kennesaw State holds a one-game lead over USC Upstate, Stetson and Lipscomb in the conference standings.
• Kennesaw State traveled to Troy, Ala. on Tuesday (Mar. 29) for a non-conference doubleheader and suffered a pair of defeats, falling 6-2 in the opener and 8-2 in the nightcap.
• Three opponents on the Owls 2016 schedule opened the year nationally ranked or were receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches and ESPN3.Com/USA Softball preseason polls. No. 8/9 Tennessee (Apr. 5), No. 12/14 Georgia (Mar. 16) and No. 25/RV South Alabama (Apr. 30) received Top 25 national rankings. KSU is also scheduled to travel to Atlantic Sun Conference rival USC Upstate Apr. 23-24 for a three-game series in Spartanburg. The Spartans were among teams receiving votes.
A look at the Opponent:
• NORTH FLORIDA: The Ospreys return to action this week after having a bye last weekend and their doubleheader with Florida A&M on Wednesday postponed. UNF is currently 12-18 on the season and 1-2 in A-Sun Conference play. They Ospreys opened their conference schedule on March 19-20 and lost two of three to visiting Stetson.
• NORTH FLORIDA STATISTCALLY: The Ospreys are batting .272 as a team, have three players batting .300 or better and are led by Shelby Duncan who has a .372 average and tops the club with 22 RBIs. North Florida has posted a 3.79 ERA and is led in the circle by Logan Green, who has posted a 5-9 record and 3.65 ERA.
• SERIES VERSUS NORTH FLORIDA: Kennesaw State and Stetson have met 57 times previously, and the Owls lead the all-time series, 42-15. The two teams last met during the 2015 season and Kennesaw State captured the three-game series two games to one. The Owls opened the series with a 5-3 win, fell 3-2 in the middle game before capturing the series finale, 5-3.
• LAST TIME OUT: The Owls were last in action on Tuesday (Mar. 29) at Troy and lost both games of a doubleheader, falling 6-2 and 8-2. The Owls (20-13) dropped the opener, 6-2, before falling 8-2 in the nightcap. Kennesaw State fell victim to a big inning in each game and was unable to completely take advantage of its scoring opportunities. In the opener, Troy starter Ashley Rainey (12-8) scattered 10 hits and was able to come up with the big pitch when she needed it, allowing seven hits and two runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Lauren Bennett,
Kara Chambers and
Hannah Thomason each had two hits apiece for KSU. The Owls ran into more good pitching in the nightcap as Trojans starter Claire Graves (5-1) held Kennesaw State hitless for the first 5 1/3 innings before
Noelle Winkles broke up the no-hit bid with a perfectly executed bunt single that helped set up their first run.
• A-SUN CONFERENCE WEEKLY HONORS: Kennesaw State has had two players recognized by the A-Sun Conference with weekly honors. Senior third baseman
Kara Chambers was named the A-Sun Conference Player of the week on March 14 after posting a .429 average (6-for-14) with four runs scored, a double, triple, four RBIs, and was 9-for-9 in stolen bases in six games.
•
Logan Viers earned A-Sun Conference Co-Pitcher for the week honors for the week of Feb. 29. She concluded the weekend 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA. In 17 2/3 innings, she allowed 11 hits, seven runs (five earned), walked two and struck out 23 to help the Owls post a 4-0 record at the Dr. Bobbie Bailey Memorial Tournament. Viers capped the tournament by tossing a six-inning perfect game against Alabama A&M.
• ACHIEVING PERFECTION: Junior right-hander
Logan Viers achieved perfection in on Feb. 28 when she needed just 64 pitches to dispatch Alabama A&M as she struck out six in six innings.
• MORE RECOGNITION FOR VIERS: In addition to being named A-Sun Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week, Viers also was tabbed the HERO National Pitcher of the Week (Mar. 7) following a week of online voting. The junior right-hander received 56 percent of the votes.
NOTES• The Owls are 10-1 when scoring in the first inning and 16-4 when scoring first.
• Kennesaw State, which ranks fourth in the country with 2.91 stolen bases a game, was held without a stolen base in both games of Tuesday's doubleheader at Troy. It marked just the third and fourth time this season that Owls have not had a stolen base. It also snapped a streak of eight consecutive games in which Kennesaw State has had at least one stolen base.
• The Owls have already established a single-season school record for stolen bases. Through 33 games, Kennesaw State has totaled 96 stolen bases in 110 attempts. The previous was record was 74 accomplished in 90 attempts in 2015.
• Senior
Kara Chambers and junior
Taylor Denton have led the running game while establishing single-season career-highs. Chambers is 22-for-24, while Denton is 20-for-21. The duo also ranks second and third, respectively, on Kennesaw State's all-time career charts with 52 and 50, respectively. Jennifer Hunt (2003-06) is KSU's career leader with 60.
• With a hit in Game One, junior
Taylor Denton extended her hitting streak to a team and career-high nine games. The streak was snapped in the nightcap as she went 1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly.
*Senior first baseman
Megan Veringa seventh-inning RBI in Game Two was the 98th of her career and moved her to with two of reaching 100 for her career.
• Junior catcher
Courtney Sutter leads the Owls with a team-high seven home runs and 23 RBIs.
• Sutter, who as 20 career home runs, ranks second on KSU's all-time career home run list and is one shy of tying Shannon Ross (1996-99) for ninth place.
• Senior first baseman
Megan Veringa has 97 career RBIs and is three shy of 100 for her career.
• Junior
Logan Viers and senior
Morgan Sikes, who rank second and third in the A-Sun Conference in ERA at 1.70 and 1.83, respectively, have established single-season career-highs for strikeouts. Viers has struck out 71 batters while Sikes has fanned 44.
PRESEASON COACHES POLL: The Owls are picked to finish third in the Atlantic Sun Conference, according the league's coaches. Lipscomb, which finished runner-up in the conference tournament a year ago, is picked to win the regular season after receiving six of seven first-place votes and 48 points.
USC Upstate, the 2015 tournament champion, finished second in the voting after garnering one first-place vote and 41 points.
Atlantic Sun Conference Preseason Poll| RK | Team (1st Place Votes) | Points |
| 1. | Lipscomb (6) | 48 |
| 2. | USC Upstate (1) | 41 |
| 3. | Kennesaw State | 31 |
| 4. | Stetson | 25 |
| 5. | North Florida | 19 |
| 6. | FGCU | 16 |
| Jacksonville | 16 |
• SUTTER, VERINGA PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE: Junior catcher
Courtney Sutter and senior first baseman
Megan Veringa was named to the Atlantic Sun Conference preseason all-conference team.
• Veringa was a unanimous selection by the league's coaches after earning second team all-conference selection in 2015 after batting a career-high .347 and establishing personal-bests in every offensive category, including runs scored (30), hits (52), home runs (9) and RBIs (46), while ranking sixth in the A-Sun Conference in RBIs and tied for 10th in home runs.
• A first-team all-conference catcher in 2015, Sutter is coming off a sophomore season in which she batted .313 with 26 runs scored, 47 hits, 10 doubles, seven home runs and 33 RBIs.
• HEAD COACH TORY ACHESON: Head coach
Tory Acheson is in his second season at the helm of the Owls program. The 2016 season marks Acheson's 22nd as a collegiate coach during which time he has posted a career mark of 846-462-2 (.646).
MILESTONE WATCH
• With 32 wins in his first season leading the Owls and 20 thus far this year, head coach
Tory Acheson has reached 50 wins at Kennesaw State. He is also two victories shy of 850 career wins.
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