Mike Foster (Sports Editor)
Louisville, Ky. — Kennesaw State’s baseball team showed up to Patterson Stadium in good spirits Saturday afternoon, sharing a lot of hugs and flashing as many smiles just a few hours before facing elimination from the NCAA Super Regionals. Part of that attitude could be attributed to the “loose,” nothing-to-lose attitude that head coach Mike Sansing entrusted in his team after last night’s 5-3 loss.
Though the good vibes also stem from the fact KSU had two more players selected in the MLB Draft today. Pitchers Justin McCalvin and James Connell were picked by the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, respectively, less than 24 hours after they stood on the mound in the seventh and eighth frames of Game 1 where Louisville scored four unanswered runs to pull away.
McCalvin, a junior from Leesburg, Ga., has a school-record 16 saves and boasts a 2.21 ERA. He’s also struck out 60 batters in 61 innings pitched.
Connell, a redshirt senior from Roswell, Ga., has been the winning pitcher of record seven times in 2014, despite not starting a single game. Connell is 7-4 with a 2.49 ERA and has 66 strikeouts in just 47 innings of work.
McCalvin and Connell join the ranks of Max Pentecost and Bo Way, who were selected in the first two days of the draft, with Pentecost going No. 11 overall to the Toronto Blue Jays where he will join KSU’s only other first-round pick (2009), Chad Jenkins.
Way was selected just an hour before game time yesterday, going in the seventh round (209th) to the Angels of Anaheim.
Louisville has had seven players drafted since Thursday.
KSU faces Louisville in an essential elimination game at 7 p.m. ET, with ESPNU carrying the television broadcast.
