By Jack Herman and Mason Wittner, Staff Writers
Kennesaw State completed their first three-game sweep of the season after winning both games of Saturday’s doubleheader against William & Mary 13-12 and 10-1.
Prior to this weekend’s meeting with the Tribe, the Owls had lost six of their previous seven games.
“It’s very big [for our momentum],” KSU head coach Mike Sansing said. “Momentum is an interesting topic, but I think hitting is contagious and momentum is contagious. I thought it was very important, especially going into the conference series opening up next weekend.”
Unlike Friday night’s pitchers’ duel, Saturday’s game one was a slugfest that the Owls (12-10) salvaged over the Tribe (10-8) in dramatic fashion. Down 12-11 after blowing a one-run lead in the ninth inning, KSU had to stage a rally.
With one out in the 10th inning, outfielder Taylor Allum hit a single to centerfield, followed by a Justin Motley single and a Chris McGowan walk. With the bases loaded, freshman infielder Grant Williams stepped up to the plate and reached on a fielding error by the Tribe’s shortstop and scored Allum to tie the game.
The Owls’ next batter Griffin Helms singled to center and brought home the game-winning run.
Left-hander Travis Bergin started on the hill for the Owls in game one and tossed six innings while striking out six and allowing nine hits and six earned runs.
The Owls started their scoring after trailing 1-0 in the second inning when leadoff man Corey Greeson pulled a single down the right field line scoring Taylor Allum and Chris McGowan.
After the Tribe tied the game at two runs apiece in the fourth, Kal Simmons came to the plate in the bottom of the inning with the bases loaded. The junior shortstop connected on the first pitch he saw for his sixth home run of the season, his first grand slam, and gave the Owls a 6-2 lead.
From there, William & Mary slowly climbed back into the game. The Tribe added three runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth, which tied the game at 6-6.
In the seventh, KSU reliever Mason Ward allowed a go-ahead RBI single to Tim Hoehn. The deficit was short lived, though, as Taylor Allum hit his first dinger of the year and tied the score at 7-7. The Owls picked up four more runs on three RBI singles and held an 11-7 lead entering the eighth.
After getting two quick outs in the eighth, Owls reliever Nathan Harsh could not avoid trouble. The righty walked two batters, had three hit batsmen and allowed three runs in 0.2 innings pitched.
KSU led 11-10 in the ninth inning with two outs when Chris Erwin allowed a lead off double, but then quickly retired the next two batters. Charley Gould lined a single to left center for the Tribe and brought in the game-tying run to make the score 11-11. The score remained tied heading into the tenth before Hoehn collected his fourth RBI of the day and gave William & Mary a 12-11 advantage before Helms ended in in the bottom of the inning.
The Owls carried their offensive prowess into game two, plating six runs on seven hits in the bottom of the first to take an early 6-0 lead over the Tribe.
Sophomore pitcher Gabe Friese showed off on the mound for the Owls in game two. The right-hander struck out five and walked four while allowing four hits and one unearned run in eight innings pitched.
“It was a very good performance,” Sansing said. “He threw a lot of strikes, pitched both sides of the plate and his breaking ball was good. He just went out there and dealt pretty good.”
The Owls added a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend their lead to 8-1. KSU added an insurance run in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to secure the 10-1 victory.
The Owls will host Georgia Southern (14-11) Tuesday, the first matchup between the squads since the 2014 NCAA Regional tournament. KSU will then trek out to Athens for a meeting with the Georgia Bulldogs (14-9) Wednesday, March 25.
