by AJ Howard, Staff writer
Last time KSU and Jacksonville State met on the baseball field it took 17 innings for a winner to emerge. This time, however, the Owls only needed the first two innings to find the decisive runs.
Four runs in the first inning paved the way for KSU (16-20) to earn an 11-4 victory over the Gamecocks Wednesday night at Stillwell Stadium.
Bo Way’s single between the JSU shortstop and third baseman scored Kal Simmons to give the Owls a lead they would never surrender. Every KSU batter stepped to the plate in the first as they added three more runs in the opening frame to jump to a 4-0 lead.
Catcher Max Pentecost and shortstop Kal Simmons scored on a Bo Way triple in the second.
The fast start exemplified the way KSU head coach Mike Sansing said that he prefers his team to play: relaxed and confident. Sansing said he did not feel the need to keep his players focused after a hot first inning.
“There wasn’t a whole lot said to them,” Sansing said. “I think they were just enjoying the evening.”
The non-conference win marks KSU’s first winning streak since March 15.
“Two’s a streak,” Sansing said. “Hopefully we just keep rolling with that.”
Way and sophomore right fielder Alex Liquori each had three RBIs. Max Pentecost also extended his Atlantic Sun Conference-leading hit streak to 17 games.
Aside from two Jacksonville State home runs, both teams lulled offensively in the middle innings. After scoring seven runs in the first three innings, KSU was held scoreless until the seventh.
Jacksonville State came closest in the top of the seventh on Eddie Mora-Loera’s sacrifice fly to left field to bring home Gavin Golson to make the score 7-4.
In the bottom half of the inning, KSU ended the scoring drought when Liquori doubled to right field, scoring Brennan Morgan. Jeremy Howell added two more runs in the inning when his single to right field scored Liquori and first baseman Clint Wynn.
The Owls added another run in the eighth on Chris McGowan’s RBI single off the right field wall to extend the lead to seven runs.
Despite his team scoring double-digit runs for the ninth time this season, Sansing was also satisfied with his team only committing one error in the field.
“I thought we played well defensively,” Sansing said. “And that’s where we have struggled this year.”
Cole McArthur, a sophomore from Warner Robbins, picked up the start and earned his first win of the season in four innings of work.
The Owls return to Atlantic Sun play with a three-game home series against Stetson, which begins Friday at 6 p.m. KSU is now 13-11 against non-conference opponents and rests at 3-9 in the A-Sun.
