Harry Cain pitches in a game during the 2025 baseball season. Photo Courtesy of KSU Athletics
Baseball’s Harry Cain is beginning his final season at Kennesaw State with something to prove.
After missing the entirety of the 2023 and 2024 seasons due to injury, Cain made his return last season looking to get back into form.
“It’s been long,” Cain said. “Last year was my first year playing again. But man, it’s just been nothing but gratitude. I really found the Lord, and He really gave me purpose in my game and who I am as a man. He allowed me to come back to the game and enjoy it in a whole new aspect, so it’s been a beautiful thing.”
Cain joined KSU as the No. 12 right-handed pitcher in the state of Georgia and a top 200 right-handed pitcher in the country, coming out of St. Francis High School in Atlanta.
Cain’s goal was to provide more depth on the mound on a team coming off a successful season in the 2021 season, finishing 29-22 overall and 13-8 in Atlantic Sun play before falling to Liberty in the conference Tournament.
As a freshman in 2022, Cain appeared in nine games out of the bullpen, allowing 12 runs in 13.1 innings and recording his first career save against Army in the Hattiesburg Regional at the NCAA Tournament. While his debut season with the Owls was filled with ups and downs, it was clear that the talent was there.
While missing two seasons was disappointing, it allowed Cain time to grow and generate more positive results in his game.
Cain returned to the mound last season as a redshirt junior and more developed as a player, which was most evident in an early season non-conference matchup against Columbia, where Cain pitched three innings of one-hit ball, striking out three batters and earning his first career win.
Cain was routinely utilized in the starting rotation for the first time last season, a greater role than his freshman season.
Last season for KSU, Cain finished with a 4.67 ERA, much improved from his 8.10 ERA as a freshman. Cain finished with 61.2 innings pitched on the year and 64 strikeouts, second on the team in both categories.
Cain had standout games against Sam Houston and Florida International, pitching seven innings, striking out nine batters against Sam Houston and eight against FIU, earning him wins in both starts. Cain also earned a win in the Conference USA Tournament, tossing five strikeouts in just 3.2 innings.
As a redshirt senior this season, Cain is the oldest and last remaining member of the 2022 squad, having seen many of teammates come and go.
“Yeah man, each year it gets better,” Cain said. “It’s a great place. It feels like home. This year in particular, it just feels like each day we’re uniting more.”
Despite the new waves of teammates Cain has found himself around, the veteran spoke highly of this season’s group in particular.
“We’re close, we all love each other,” Cain said. “We’ve all been through things, and we can all come together and at the end of the day just understand that we’re all in this together, despite if it shows like that on the field or not, we know that we are a band of brothers, and we’re trying everything we can do to just play united.”
