KSU’s baseball team earned series victories, on the road, in its first two conference matchups of the season, taking two games from the Mercer Bears and Jacksonville Dolphins to land in second place in the conference, tied with Belmont.
Despite the success, the Owls lost a heartbreaker, 7-6, to the Dolphins on Sunday. In the second game of a double-header, only scheduled for seven innings, Jacksonville’s Taylor Ratliff hit a walk-off double for the win.
KSU’s Andy Chriscaden had some heroics of his own in the top half of the final inning. With the Owls trailing, 4-6, with two outs, Chriscaden jacked a two-run homer to tie the game.
The Owls had to go deep into the bullpen during game two, pitching seven players on the mound throughout the contest.
Starting pitcher Kevin Kyle was hit early, allowing three earned runs and three walks in 2.1 innings.
Andrew Austin took the blunt of the Jacksonville heroics, going home with the loss after allowing two earned runs, including the game winner.
The Owls saw a stronger pitching performance in game one. Steve Jonas (2-1) went seven innings, allowing just three runs and notching six strikeouts.
Jonas earned the victory in a 10-3 line, with Zak Griffith closing the game to perfection.
Lead off hitter Aaron Dobbs has continued to be impressive for the Black and Gold. Dobbs had a triple and a steal in the fourth frame of game two, and scored, to help the Owls close the score to 4-3 in the fourth inning, after trailing by three.
In the last seven games, Dobbs has batted 15-of-30 (.500) with seven stolen bases, seven walks, and 11 scored runs.
Dobbs, Ronnie Freeman, Andy Almonte and Jacob Bruce are all batting over .300 for the season, so far.
KSU will return to battle on March 27 when they start a home and away series with Western Carolina. The Owls will come back home against the Catamounts a day later.
Georgia Tech will also visit KSU on April 2. The Yellow Jackets are currently ranked 20th in the nation.
