Category | Sports

Luck of the Irish swings toward Owls on St. Patrick’s Day

Published on March 23, 2010 by Ben Poplin

The Owls baseball team took the field at Stillwell Stadium March 16 after returning from a successful road trip and hoping to cap off the week with two wins at home.

Infielder Ross Tiendler helps the Owls defeat the Georgia State Univeristy Panthers on St. Patrick’s day with a score of 3-2. Photo by Greg Ranallo.

Georgia Southern (11-10) came prepared for a fight, and both teams brought their “A” game. KSU was two runs short of claiming its second win at home, losing 8-7 and dropping its record to 7-10.

Eagles’ freshman pitcher Justin Hess threw well against the Owls, allowing only three runs on four hits with six strike outs.  KSU starting pitcher Zak Griffith, a sophomore from Kennesaw, had a productive outing on the mound as well.

Aside from the five runs on six hits he allowed, Griffith struck out four and left in the fourth inning for KSU senior reliever Brad Long to get out of the inning.

Georgia Southern’s hitting attack was led by senior second baseman Kevin Bowles, senior third baseman A.J. Wirnsberger and sophomore shortstop Eric Phillips. All had three hits in the game.

The Owl hitters featured in this game were freshman catcher Ronnie Freeman, junior first baseman Ross Tendler, red shirt freshman third baseman Peyton Hart, senior left fielder Clint Roques and junior right fielder Josh Whitaker, who hit a two-run homer.

Hart had a big hit in the eighth inning, driving in his teammates Tendler and Roques.

“I struck out earlier in the game with the bases loaded,” Hart said, “and I did not want that to happen again.”

KSU finished with seven runs on 10 hits, but its biggest problem was leaving runners on base when they were in scoring position.

“We took way too many pitches,” Coach Sansing said.

At Stillwell Stadium March 17, fans shuffled in for an opportunity to score a free green Owls t-shirt.  Only the first 100 fans got one, so many students showed up early to claim the prize.

In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, the Owls themselves sported green hats, similar to those that Major League Baseball teams wore at Spring Training.

KSU came out swinging, led by a Roques single. Senior Tyler Stubblefield added another. This game featured superb pitching from both teams.

KSU freshman hurler Catlan Kendrick, with  one win already under his belt, threw five innings and allowed three hits and no runs.  His pitch count climbed into the upper 80s.

“He is usually a sixties guy,” Sansing said.

In the other dugout, Panther junior pitcher Charley Olson held the Owls to four runs on four hits in seven innings of work.

He struck out seven batters and featured a breaking ball that KSU hitters could not catch.

“In the scouting report, we had read that this guy threw a lot of breaking balls,” Stubblefield said. “So I made adjustments to look for a lot of those.”

The men who drove in runs for the Owls were Freeman, Tendler and Roques.  Stubblefield had a great day at the plate as well boasting a single in the third and a big bunt single in the ninth that started a rally.

Along with Kendrick, freshman reliever Kelly Holt pitched three innings, and Johnson got the win to give him a 2-0 record.

The Owls are home March 31 to battlethe Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Stillwell Stadium.  The first pitch is set for 6 p.m.