Category | Sports

Owls hit SEC teams out of the park

Published on March 16, 2010 by Ben Poplin

The Atlantic Sun Conference and Southeastern Conference did battle this week as KSU split the games with the University of Tennessee and beat the University of Georgia.  KSU finished winning four of six to boost its record to 5-8.

Ronnie Freeman drove in his team-leading twelfth run on an eighth inning single to score Josh Whitaker to help beat the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Photo by Greg Ranallo.

KSU had the momentum from the second win going into the game on Mar. 6 against the University of Tennessee.  The Owls struck in the third when senior infielder Tyler Stubblefield hit his fourth homer of the season, giving the Owls a 1-0 lead. In his first start of the year, sophomore pitcher Josh Carr, kept the Volunteers missing.  Clutch relief pitching from junior J.B. Johnson put the other hitters away without a threat.

“Our pitching staff did really well as a whole,” Assistant Coach Derrick Tucker said. “It kept us in the games, and we threw a lot of strikes, which we had trouble with early in the season.”

KSU tacked on two more runs in the eighth helped by couple of Volunteer errors. Tennessee went in order in the bottom half of the inning, and the Owls added one more run to help cushion their third win of the season.  Johnson got credit for the win.  This is the team’s second Southeastern Conference opponent that they have beaten in KSU history.

“Any time you can beat a major conference team, I think it’s good for your university and your program,” Head Coach Mike Sansing said. “I feel good about the way we played.”

Solid pitching led the Owls to their third straight win on the road.  Junior Bryan Blough threw six innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits against the Binghamton Bearcats on Mar. 7.

“That [pitching] was a key for the UT tournament,” Sansing said. “That is always going to be a key for winning games.”

In Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Volunteers, KSU came close to grabbing its fourth consecutive win.  Senior Micah Sales pitched four shut-out innings, giving his team breathing room. Junior infielder Sean McClurken tripled to start the sixth inning, and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Junior Josh Whitaker.  In the eighth, Whitaker got on base after being hit.  Freshman catcher Ronnie Freeman stepped up to drive Whitaker in on an opposite-field double to right-center.

“A lot of our young guys are getting comfortable in some roles”, Assistant Coach Derrick Tucker said.

In the ninth inning, the Volunteers mounted a comeback and tied the game.  Junior pitcher J.B. Johnson came in relief to try and distinguish the Tennessee threat.  Volunteer Charley Thurber grounded into a potential double play, but after sliding head first, he was ruled safe.  A single from Volunteer Cody Hawn brought in Tennessee’s first run.  A payoff pitch from J.B. Johnson was called high for ball four to walk the next Volunteer batter Blake Forsythe.  A pitch to send the game into extra innings then hit UT’s Cody Stubbs.

In the tenth, both teams were silent, but freshman pitcher Kelly Holt ended up relinquishing two hits and the losing run for the Owls in the eleventh.

KSU continued its success on the road Mar. 9 by defeating its in-state rival the Georgia Bulldogs 11-1.  Neither team made its presence known until the third inning, when the Owls batted through the line up to score seven runs.

“From an offensive standpoint, it’s easier to be more aggressive while you are ahead,” assistant coach Tucker said about the Owls’ large lead.

Sophomore outfielder Jordan Craft was the first to score for the Owls on a Stubblefield single.  The next batter, Whitaker, stepped in with two men on and drew a walk to load the bases for junior catcher Drew Fowlkes.  Fowlkes walked to give KSU a 2-run lead.  The next run scored when senior outfielder Clint Roques was hit by a pitch, and junior infielder Ross Tendler hit a 2-run single, followed by Peyton Hart’s second single of the game to give the Owls a 5-0 lead.  In the bottom of the third, KSU starter Zak Griffith surrendered his only run of the game on a Cooper Moseley solo homerun.

KSU scored again in the fifth on another single by Hart, who earned his third run batted in of the game.  In the next inning, Whitaker scored on a Bulldog error.  Owls sealed the dealin the eighth and ninth innings when Ronnie Freeman drove in his team-leading twelfth run on an eighth inning single to score Whitaker.  Stubblefield connected for a triple that scored Sean McClurken in the ninth, and that would be the last run of the game.  Sophomore pitcher Zak Griffith pitched five innings, allowing four hits and one run in his first start this season.

“That’s what you want,”Sansing said. “Guys to pitch deep into games.”

Jeff Brown pitched four innings of relief, earning his second save and helping KSU grab its fifth win.

The next contest for KSU is against Southern Utah University.  The Owls will be back home today to battle the Georgia Southern Eagles.