Kennesaw State’s baseball team played its opening set of games over the weekend, defeating West Virginia University 5-3 on Friday, Feb.15, before winning 9-2 against the University of Illinois at Chicago and falling short 9-8 to Richmond University on Saturday.
Brooks Buckler led the KSU pitching staff against WVU, recording seven strikeouts over five innings while only allowing one run. Junior Garrett Hodges set the pace offensively with two hits and two runs batted in.
The Owls’ offense was held scoreless until the fifth inning when they tied the game after an RBI single by junior Alex Carballo.
After the Mountaineers responded with two runs of their own in the sixth inning, KSU began their rally as Hodges knocked in sophomore Tyler Simon to tighten the score at 3-2.
In the seventh inning, the Owls broke through to take their first lead of the game. With the bases loaded, Simon hit a ground ball to the shortstop who flipped the ball to the second baseman looking for the double play.
The ball was thrown away, resulting in two runs for KSU. Hodges helped add an additional run, batting in Simon with an RBI single.
Closer Jake McLinskey pitched a scoreless ninth inning to confirm an Opening Day victory for the Owls.
Three-hit performances by Hodges and junior Terence Norman helped fuel a second straight win to start the season for the Owls against Illinois-Chicago.
Five runs in the first four innings by KSU set the tone for the game, as Carballo hit a first-inning solo home run to get the Owls going. In the fourth inning, Norman hit a home run of his own after Hodges produced another RBI hit.
After two runs from Illinois-Chicago in the fifth inning, the Owls responded equally before extending their lead in the eighth inning. Senior Jaylen Smith had a productive game with two hits coming off an injury-laden 2018 season.
Pitchers Ryan Kennedy and Jared Rine combined for 11 strikeouts to help secure the win.
Later that night, the Owls racked up 12 hits but were unable to defeat Richmond due to pitching mistakes that contrasted with the consistency of the previous two games.
KSU pitchers surrendered a dozen walks to the Spiders, most notably in the fourth inning when Richmond got out to a 5-2 lead over the Owls.
Later in the game, two wild pitches by KSU allowed further runs to score, forcing multiple comeback attempts.
Leading the Owls offensively were Smith and senior Jake Franklin, as both players contributed three hits. KSU initially tied the game at 5-5 in the fifth inning before having to play from behind again to make it 8-8 in the seventh inning.
After Richmond scored another run in the eighth inning, the Owls were unable to score and suffered their first loss of the season.
Next, KSU hosts the University of Georgia on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 5 p.m. before playing a three-game weekend series against Towson.
