By Julien Benjamin (Staff Writer)
Relief pitcher Justin McCalvin entered Tuesday’s marquee matchup against Georgia Tech as arguably KSU’s hottest and most confident arm, though indecision on his part might have cost the Owls their season sweep of the Yellow Jackets.
With two outs on the board, a balk by McCalvin sent home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning, giving Georgia Tech (12-8) an 8-7 lead it would defend with a perfect final frame from reliever Sam Clay to earn revenge over KSU in a thriller at Stillwell Stadium.
KSU defeated Georgia Tech via two unearned runs in extra innings, 5-3, at Russ Chandler Stadium on Feb. 25.
Starting pitcher Jordan Hillyer had a rough outing for the Owls, allowing five runs through eight hits before departing after just three innings of work—pushing his ERA to a still-strong 2.89 on the year.
“He’ll be fine; Tech hits the ball well, and they did it again today,” head coach Mike Sansing said.
KSU (12-12) had to fight twice to keep pace with the Yellow Jackets, who used a four-run second and one more in the third to take a 5-1 lead. James Connell came out of the pen and was strong for KSU, recording four strikeouts in the fourth and fifth against no hits allowed. The Owls bounced back in the bottom of the sixth, when Alex Liquori hit his first homerun of the year in a form of a grand-slam to even the score.
“It was a great hit; he’s been swinging well for us lately,” Sansing said.
Georgia Tech responded in the following frame, taking the lead back at 7-5 with an RBI double from Matt Gonzalez, who came home moments later off a single from Thomas Smith.
“The seventh wasn’t what we wanted to do after battling back,” Sansing said.
KSU’s all-American catcher Max Pentecost bailed the Owls out with an RBI double in the bottom of the inning to bring home Dylan Ivey. Bo Way picked up his 10th RBI of the year when he brought home Pentecost on a single.
After an empty inning thanks to one frame of work from Andrew Austin, McCalvin took to the mound boasting a 0.74 ERA. Gonzalez led off the inning for Georgia Tech with a bunt single, but two consecutive groundouts from the Yellow Jackets advanced Gonzalez to third. McCalvin’s error dropped his record to 2-2 on the season.
KSU opened the scoring in the first inning when Pentecost reached on a fielding error. Pentecost led the Owls at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored. Way was the Owls only other multi-hit batter, going 2-for-4 at the dish. Pentecost also continued his strong play in mask as well as on the pads, throwing out a Georgia Tech baserunner and stealing a bag of his own—moving both respective stats to eight on the season.
Despite the loss, Sansing wasn’t unsatisfied with his team’s play.
“Our guys battled back offensively, and we made a good effort today,” Sansing said.
KSU finished 1-1 against Georgia Tech on the year, with the series moving to 14-5 in favor of the Ramblin’ Wreck.
KSU opens home play in conference with a three-game series against Lipscomb this weekend.
