by Daniel Miller
Winning can be contagious and over the last four games the KSU baseball team has found different ways to win. On Sunday afternoon, KSU held on and defeated Stetson 9-8 on a go ahead wild pitch.
“I was proud of my guys on how they came back to win the game,” KSU manager Mike Sansing said.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, and the score tied 8-8, Stetson sent out second baseman Kevin Fagan to the mound.
“It wasn’t surprising,” Sansing said. “I think they were trying to run everyone they could out, and we were trying to do the same thing.”
In the ninth, Sansing elected to send out junior pitcher Benjamin Bencroft rather than closer Justin Mccalvin. After giving up a four pitch leadoff walk, the call was made to the bullpen for Mccalvin who went right to work finishing the game with a strikeout, a pickoff attempt, and infield pop up recording his sixth save of the season, lowering his era to 1.29.
KSU led 8-5 going to the top of the eighth inning, before back to back singles by the Hatters sent the tying run to the plate. Hatters pinch hitter Colton Lightner laid down a sacrifice bunt resulting in an errant throw from pitcher Will Soloman, allowing three runs to score.
“Sometimes you just have a feeling, and it was probably a mistake on my part but our guys picked me up,” Sansing said. “I thought James (Connell) had a strong two days in a row and J-Mac (Justin Mccalvin) has. I knew they had a lefty coming up and we were trying to neutralize that a little bit.”
Max Pentecost finished the afternoon going 3-4 and wasted no time extending his hit streak to 20 games.
“I’m just going out there and being aggressive,” Pentecost said. “I’m just playing the game how I know how to play it.”
For the second time in three days he opened the scoring, blasting a two-run home run
“It set the pace” Sansing said of the Pentecost blast.
KSU led 4-1 after three innings and the score would remain that way until the Hatters plated two runs in the top of the fifth.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Owls kept their poise and proceeded to load the bases for Alex Liquori, who stepped to the plate and singled to right field delivering two RBIs.
“He’s a talented player, a strong player, and plays the game the right way,” Sansing said about Liquori. “He’s enthusiastic about it.”
The Owls added another run in the bottom half of the sixth inning highlighted by a double steal executed to perfection. Bennett, who has played sparingly, took advantage of his opportunity, providing an RBI groundout.
“We played well; every time we would get a run, they would come back and score some,” said Pentecost.
The Owls will next take the field Tuesday at Georgia State before traveling to Spartanburg, S.C. for a three game weekend series against USC Upstate.
