A manufactured run in the eighth inning would be the difference for the KSU Owls baseball team on Sunday, as Jordan Craft’s sacrifice fly brought home Andy Chriscaden for the go-ahead run in a 4-3 affair against the Belmont Bruins at Stillwell Stadium.
KSU’s victory in the rubber match of a three game series against the Bruins brings its record
to 26-17 and 12-6 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, evening with Belmont (27-16, 12-6 A-Sun) at second place in the conference standings with three conference series left to play in the season.
The victory on Sunday was hard fought despite the fact that the Owls gave themselves quite a cushion in the bottom of the first inning.
In the first frame, Aaron Dobbs, who reached first base on a walk, stole second and eventually advanced to third following a
line out by Peyton Hart. Dobbs would score seconds later when Andy Almonte, who now leads the conference in RBIs, batted Dobbs home with a single to left field.
Almonte would reach second during the next at bat after a passed ball, and eventually reach third after a ground out by Ronnie Freeman.
Andy Chriscaden then entered to give the Owls a three run advantage, smashing a home run to right field.
That would be all of the scoring for the game until the top of the fifth inning, when the Bruins mounted their comeback, scoring three runs on four hits.
With the game tied in the bottom of the eighth frame, Chriscaden led off with a single and reached second on a sacrifice bunt by Will Howard. The next two batters, Max Pentecost and Chris McGowan, would reach base-on-balls, loading the bags with one out.
That was when Craft applied the finishing touches on a productive eighth inning to bring home Chriscaden and give the Black and Gold the lead.
Justin McCalvin entered to finish the contest, forcing two flyouts and recording a strikeout at the final at bat to finish off the Bruins in the ninth inning. McCalvin’s late performance gives him a 2-1 record on the year.
Starting pitcher Kevin Kyle did a nice job for the Owls on the mound, but ran into trouble during the eight inning when the bags loaded with one out. McCalvin was able to enter and clean up at a critical moment for the Owls.
Almonte had a fantastic day at the plate for KSU, finishing a perfect 3-for-3. Chriscaden had a notable performance as well, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and scoring two runs.
The 4-3 victory gave KSU its seventh win in the last nine games. The winning stretch included a 6-1 win over rival Mercer and an incredible 17-2 demolition of Stetson on April 14.
KSU plays on the road at UAB tonight at 7:30 p.m., and will host in-state opponent Savannah State tomorrow, at 5 p.m., at Stillwell Stadium.
Two in-conference road series are still left on the team’s slate with road trips to Florida Gulf Coast and USC Upstate still on tap. The series in Spartanburg, S.C., will be pivotal as the Owls try to make their bid for first place in the Atlantic Sun Conference and earn the regular season title. The Spartans are currently a game in front of the Owls with a 29-12 (13-5 A-Sun) record.
KSU will finish its regular season at home with a single game against in-state rival Georgia Southern on May 15 and a finishing series against East Tennessee State on May 17 through 19.
The Atlantic Sun Conference Championship will be played in DeLand, FL., May 23 through 26.
