TOP OF THE ORDER
• Kennesaw State travels to Spartanburg, S.C. this weekend for its final Atlantic Sun Conference road series of the year when it visits USC Upstate beginning Saturday (April 23) at Cyrill Softball Stadium. The two teams will play a doubleheader starting 1 p.m. before closing out the series with a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday (April 24). All three games will be available on ESPN3.
• The Owls (25-19, 6-6) and Spartans (34-12, 6-5) will be battling to remain atop the A-Sun Conference standings as one game separates the top four teams. Florida Gulf Coast (7-5) is first place, followed by Stetson (8-6), USC Upstate and Kennesaw State.
• USC UPSTATE: The Spartans enter the weekend at 34-12 overall and 6-5 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. USC Upstate is 7-3 in its last 10 games and is coming off a doubleheader sweep of South Carolina State on Wednesday. The Spartans are batting .318 as a team and have eight players hitting .300 or better. Junior outfielder Ryan Rector leads the club with a .350 average, 15 home runs and 45 RBIs. USC Upstate has posted a 2.86 team ERA and is led in the circle by junior right-hander Holly McKinnon, who is 20-6 with a 2.57 ERA. In 163 1/3 innings pitched, she has 156 strikeouts and 16 complete games.
• SERIES VERSUS USC UPSTATE: Kennesaw State and USC Upstate have met 48 times and the Owls lead the all-time series, 34-14. The Spartans have had the upper hand of late, winning seven in row, including all three meetings a year ago in Kennesaw.
• LAST TIME OUT: Kennesaw State combined the winning formula of solid pitching and clutch hitting to complete a doubleheader sweep of visiting Alabama State Tuesday at Bailey Park. The Owls won the opener 2-0 and came back in the nightcap to post an 8-2 win and provide head coach
Tory Acheson with his 850th and 851st career coaching wins. In the opener, Kennesaw State (25-19) rode the right arm of junior
Logan Viers (11-5) and two hits apiece from seniors
Rachel Dennis and
Megan Veringa as the two combined to go 4-for-6 with a triple and home run, respectively. The solid pitching and extra-base hit power continued in the nightcap as senior
Morgan Sikes worked five strong innings, allowing two unearned runs while Veringa, junior
Courtney Sutter and senior
Missy Perkowski homered. Dennis also doubled, tripled and scored two runs.
• 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:
• 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
* With the doubleheader sweep, head coach
Tory Acheson earned his 850th and 851st career wins. He has an all-time career record of 851-473 (.652) in 22 seasons. He is 57-38 (.600) in two years at Kennesaw State.
* The Owls improved to 13-1 when scoring in the first inning and 20-5 when scoring first.
• Kennesaw State continues to be one of top base stealing teams in the country as it ranks sixth nationally, averaging 2.55 stolen bases per game. Marist leads the nation with 3.15 steals per game.
• The Owls have already established a single-season school record for stolen bases. Through 44 games, Kennesaw State has totaled 112 stolen bases in 131 attempts. The previous was record was 74 accomplished in 90 attempts in 2015.
• Junior
Taylor Denton and senior
Kara Chambers have led the running game while establishing single-season career-highs. Denton is 27-for-28, while Chambers is 23-for-28. The duo also ranks second and third, respectively, on Kennesaw State's all-time career charts as Denton has 57 career stolen bases and Chambers has 53. Jennifer Hunt (2003-06) is KSU's career leader with 60.
• Denton has equaled the KSU single-season stolen base record previously set by Hunt, who swiped 27 bags in 2005.
• Denton and Chambers have 96 career runs scored on are four shy of reaching 100 for their careers. Chambers is also one hit away from 150 for her career.
• Sutter has 29 career doubles and is one away from 30 for her career.
• With her two home runs against Alabama State on Tuesday, senior
Megan Veringa increased her career total to 19 and is one shy of moving into Kennesaw State's career top 10 list.
• Junior
Courtney Sutter's home run in game two was the 21st of her career and tied her with Shannon Ross (1996-99) for ninth place on KSU's all-time career home run list.
• When Sutter Veringa and
Missy Perkowski hit home runs in game two of Tuesday's doubleheader against Alabama State, it marked the second time this season that the Owls have hit three home runs in a game.
Rachel Dennis, Perkowski and Sutter each went deep in a 4-2 win over Rutgers on February 19.
• Junior
Logan Viers and senior
Morgan Sikes have established single-season career-highs for strikeouts. Viers has struck out 86 batters in 115 1/3 innings while Sikes has fanned 57 in 92 2/3 innings.
• Viers is currently second in the A-Sun Conference with a 1.70 ERA, while Sikes is third with a 1.96 ERA.
• Junior outfielder
Taylor Denton leads the Owls in A-Sun Conference play with a .450 average (18-for-40) and 13 runs scored while going 11-for-11 in stolen base attempts.
• Denton, along with senior outfielder
Rachel Dennis has been one of KSU's hottest hitters over the last 10 games, posting a .355 average and five stolen bases. In her last nine games, Dennis is batting .474 (9-for-19) with five runs scored, four RBIs, and three extra base hits.
• With six career saves, including four this season, senior left-hander
Morgan Sikes is tied for seventh on KSU's career saves list.
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.
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State softball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsSB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
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