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KENNESAW, Ga. – A late inning rally from the Kennesaw State baseball team was not enough to overcome a hot start for the visiting Quakers as Penn downed KSU 10-7 in game one of the three-game series Friday night.
 
Penn (1-0) jumped on starting pitcher Ryan Kennedy with a solo home run in its second at-bat. A two out single brought one more run around to give Penn a 2-0 lead after one. The Owls (4-5) looked to respond but stranded two over the first two innings.
 
The Quakers piled it on in the third with a lead-off single followed by back-to-back home runs to take a 5-0 advantage. Redshirt freshman Bowen Bock came in to replace Kennedy in the top of the fourth eventually walking in a run with the bases loaded, but limiting the damage to one thanks to a double-play on the following at-bat.
 
KSU finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning as Tyler Simon ripped a single through the right side to score Justin Russell from third and cut it to 6-1. After Penn added another run in the fifth, freshman Sterling Richardson took the mound. The Quakers brought two more around to score before Richardson settled in with a strikeout and a groundout to close out the inning.
 
Richardson went on to hold Penn scoreless for the next three innings, finishing the night with 4.1 innings pitched while fanning four batters and recording one earned run, as KSU chipped away at Penn's lead.
 
The Owl bats came alive in the seventh inning, loading up the bases with no outs thanks to a pair of walks and a double from Nick Colina. Marcerio Allen would score on the next at-bat off the fielder's choice before singles from Logan Fink and Ryan Smith sandwiched around an RBI groundout by Alex Carballo cut the lead to 9-5 and capped off a four-run inning for KSU.
 
KSU continued to work its way back in the next inning off the back of a two-run bomb by Garrett Hodges, his first of the year, to make it 9-7. That would be as close as the Owls would get as Penn added a run in the ninth behind two doubles before shutting the door in the bottom of the inning.
 
The Owls look to even the series Saturday afternoon, taking on the Quakers at 2 p.m.