After losing six straight games, the Kennesaw State baseball team turned its fortunes around last week by winning five consecutive games beginning on Tuesday, March 12, including manager Mike Sansing’s 1,000th career win at KSU.
KSU began its homestand against Presbyterian College, playing a game each against them on Tuesday and Wednesday.
KSU amassed 14 hits in a 13-5 game against the Blue Hose on Tuesday, as senior Jake Franklin led the way with three hits and three runs batted in.
The game started off as a back-and-forth battle as the two teams traded runs, with the Owls leading 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Up to that point, the Owls had scored twice in the second inning and three times in the third, including a two-run home run by Franklin.
Leading off the bottom of the fourth inning, senior Jaylen Smith connected for a single before stealing second base. That proved to be important, as he later scored on a groundout.
With two outs, senior David Chabut hit a single and scored on a double by junior Alex Carballo. Junior Terence Norman finished the scoring for the inning by driving in Carballo.
Two more runs scored by KSU in the fifth inning proved insurmountable for Presbyterian as the lead increased to 10-4.
The final run scored by KSU was driven in by a rare play. The batter was awarded first base as the batted ball hit the umpire while in play. This gave the batter a single and a run scored on the force while the bases were loaded.
Along with Franklin, Carballo and senior AJ Willoughby had three hits each. KSU’s pitchers only allowed five hits and four earned runs for the evening. The winning pitcher was Brendan Bickleman.
The following evening proved momentous for Sansing as he led the Owls to another win against Presbyterian and the 1,000th win of his career for KSU.
KSU scored four early runs to establish a lead as they won 7-3 over the Blue Hose. The pitching was strong again as senior Jake McLinskey won his second game of the season, throwing seven strikeouts in just under five innings.
RBI singles by Chabut and junior Garrett Hodges got the Owls ahead in the first inning before freshman Darius Diaz drove in a run and later scored in the fourth inning.
After the Blue Hose scored three runs to make it a close 4-3 game, the Owls responded with three of their own by taking advantage of an error by Presbyterian.
Chabut led the way in the game with three hits and three RBI while Diaz drove in two.
The Owls reconvened two days later with a dominant 9-0 win in the first of three games against the University of Massachusetts. Senior pitcher Brooks Buckler controlled the game, throwing six shutout innings while giving up only five hits.
Sophomore Tyler Simon hit a two-run double in the first inning before Diaz drove in two more runs with a single. Norman drove in the next three runs for KSU, with two in the fourth inning and one in the sixth.
Norman scored the final run of the game later in the sixth inning.
The winning streak continued on Saturday as the Owls scored eight runs in the span of two innings on the way to a 12-2 victory over the Minutemen.
Sophomore pitcher Ryan Kennedy won his third game of the season, giving up just two runs in six innings.
Four batters contributed with at least two hits each, led by Willoughby who had three RBI. The Owls made their mark early by scoring eight runs in the first three innings.
KSU wrapped up their winning week with another dozen runs on the board in a 12-7 win on Sunday.
Hodges hit two home runs in the contest as the Owls found themselves trailing for the first time all week against UMass. A three-run home run by Hodges in the first inning put KSU ahead, but the Minutemen score six straight runs.
With the game deadlocked 7-7 in the sixth inning, Norman hit an RBI double and Hodges hit his second long shot as the Owls finished the game with five unanswered runs.
Franklin is now on an eight-game winning streak.
Next up, the Owls play five home games this week starting on Tuesday, March 19, playing twice against Binghamton before hosting Atlantic Sun Conference foes North Alabama for three weekend games.
