By Julien Benjamin, Staff Writer
Kennesaw State split a doubleheader against the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles Saturday, winning the first game 5-0 while dropping the second game 6-5 in extra innings.
KSU (21-18, 6-5) took the opening matchup behind a complete game outing from Jordan Hillyer who picked up his fourth win of the season.
“Hillyer threw extremely well,” KSU head coach Mike Sansing said. “He’s been the number one guy in the rotation, it’s important to set the tone and he’s been able to do that consistently for us all year. He closed it down for us today.”
Hillyer allowed just three hits in a shutout appearance, reducing his ERA to 2.35. Eagles’ starter Michael Murray had an equally remarkable outing, but was tagged for four earned runs, the crushing blow being Chris Erwin’s 7th inning two-run home run to right field which gave KSU a 4-0 lead.
The Owls scored two runs in the third inning, one on a sac fly from designated hitter Corey Greeson and the other on an RBI single from Grant Williams to open the game’s scoring. After Erwin’s home run, catcher Brennan Morgan’s sacrifice fly in the eighth added a fifth insurance run for the team in the opening game.
Travis Bergen continued the trend of excellent starting pitching in game two, throwing eight innings of three run baseball before departing in favor of the bullpen for the ninth. Bergen allowed two earned runs to drop his season ERA to 2.55 while striking out four.
FGCU jumped out to an early start and picked up a run in the first inning off of a sacrifice fly. However, the Owls responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. McGowan opened the scoring with a double to left-center field and drove in two runs. He later scored on a single to center field by Chris Erwin.
In the fifth inning, McGowan hit his third home run of the season with a blast to right field, giving KSU a 5-2 lead. This lead would be held until the ninth inning when the shaky Owls’ bullpen failed to record a save.
“We weren’t able to get some things done today, we had the opportunities,” Sansing said. “Up two going into the ninth, you feel comfortable and confident.”
Will Lowman entered in the ninth in relief of Bergen with a 5-3 lead. Four of the first five batters for the Eagles reached base, two of whom scored to tie the game. Lowman walked two, gave up three hits and allowed two earned runs in his blown save outing.
The Owls failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, and Logan Hutchinson came on to pitch the 10th inning. The first two Eagles’ batters reached base, and Tyler Selesky hit a sacrifice fly to give FGCU a 6-5 lead. KSU was retired in order in the bottom half and fell in the night cap of the double header.
