By: Matteen Zibanejadrad
UP NEXT TO PLATE
No. 2 seed of the ASUN's Northern Division Kennesaw State baseball team (29-20, 13-8) will face off against the No. 2 seed of the Southern Division and tournament hosts North Florida (21-21, 11-7) in the Owls' first game in the Final Four. The ASUN Champions will be crowned through a cross-divisional double-elimination four-team tournament over the next three days. The field is as follows: the No. 1 seed of the Northern Division, Liberty; the No. 2 seed of the Southern Division, North Florida; the No. 4 seed of the Southern Division, Jacksonville and the No. 2 seed of the Northern Division, the Kennesaw State Owls.
Opponent: North Florida
Location: Jacksonville, Fla. | Harmon Stadium
Date: Thursday, May 27
Time: 3:00 p.m. EST
Starting Pitching
KSU: LHP
Jake Rice (9-2, 1.68 ERA)
UNF: LHP Tony Roca (3-2, 4.34 ERA)
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LAST TIME OUT
The Owls are coming off of a two-game sweep of Lipscomb in the quarterfinal round of the ASUN Championship.
Over the two games, Kennesaw State outscored the Nashville, Tenn. team 24-2 and out-hit the Bisons at a rate of 25-10.
The quarterfinal win marks the first time that the Owls have made the final four of the ASUN Championship since 2017.
REIGN OF RICE
KSU ace
Jake Rice has made his name known among the ASUN ranks and it's clear to see why when you look at the Birmingham, Ala. native's numbers.
Not only does Rice lead the ASUN in ERA by a half of a run, but he rounds out the top 10 of the best earned-run averages in the nation with a 1.68. If he maintains this ratio, it'll go down as one of the top seven ERAs in ASUN baseball history.
The transfer from Presbyterian College impressed on the mound once again in the opening game against Lipscomb. In Rice's ninth win of the season, the leftie struck out five Bisons while allowing a lone run off of four hits.
THE LEGEND OF CORO
After his tremendous weekend in the ASUN Quarterfinals, third baseman
Jake Coro highlights the depth of Kennesaw State's lineup.
Hitting most of his games in the team's ninth slot, the graduate of Southern New Hampshire University had one of his best weekends as an Owl last week.
In Game One on Friday, the Owl from Rhode Island hit a three-run shot to right field and a one-run base knock; this is the first time that Coro has hit four RBIs in a game as a KSU player.
Deployed in the hot corner in both games, the Kennesaw State No. 4 made it a five-RBI weekend with a single up the middle in the sixth inning of Saturday's game to extend the Owls' lead to 5-1.
VETERAN PRESENCE
Prior to the 2021 season, the veterans of the Owls' roster had a big decision to make: move on to the next step of their lives and careers, or use their extra year of eligibility to play KSU baseball for one more season.
Seeing the potential of the team in the shortened 2020 season, the outfield trio of
Garrett Hodges,
Alex Carballo and
Terence Norman returned to the team to take care of unfinished business.
Extending his current hitting streak to five games in Saturday's 10-2 win against Lipscomb, center fielder
Alex Carballo has proven to be one of the hardest hitters to get out in the ASUN.
In a weekend which the Floridian went five-for-10 through two games, Carballo's .337 batting average is the sixth-best rate in the conference. There is not a slugger who has been walked in the ASUN more than Carballo, who's taken a base on balls 35 times in 2021. This contributes to the third-best on-base percentage in the ASUN, as Carballo reaches base 45.7% of the time.
Garrett Hodges is the de facto captain of the Owls, and he has led by example all season. In the final regular-season series against Lipscomb, the fifth-year senior hit two home runs: a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to get the Owls back in the game from a 12-6 deficit in a 12-11 loss and a two-run shot in the 7-4 win. The two-RBI blast was Hodges' team-leading eighth home run of the season. He capped his memorable swan song of a season with his naming to the ASUN's First Team All-Conference at designated hitter.
Rounding out the triumvirate is
Terence Norman, who is a graduate of Kennesaw Mountain HS. A two time member of the ASUN's First Team All-Conference and a former Preseason Player of the Year.
Sporting a .302 average on the season, Norman is preparing to finish his fifth-straight season with a .300-plus batting average. His career batting average currently sits at .328, the best rate by any Owl playing five years at Kennesaw State.
