Kennesaw State Claims Multiple Honors at 2015 Atlanta Sports Awards

Release from Kenensaw State Athletics:

Another milestone in the history of Kennesaw State University and its athletics program was achieved as the Owls baseball program was a multiple winner at the 2015 Atlanta Sports Awards hosted by the Atlanta Sports Council at the Fox Theater in Atlanta on Thursday (Mar. 5).

Head coach Mike Sansing’s 2014 Owls club was named the Team of the Year presented by PrimeSport and former KSU All-American Max Pentecost was voted Collegiate Athlete of the Year presented by AT&T.

“It’s special that we were recognized, that the Atlanta Sports Council realized what that team had done and what Max had done,” Sansing, who also was a finalist for Coach of the Year presented by The Home Depot, said. “That to me, as much as winning it, is that people kind of watched you and saw what happened and how things evolved and give you credit for it.”

Sansing guided the Owls to a 40-24 record, the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament title, the NCAA Division I Tallahassee Regional championship and a trip to the Louisville Super Regional. It marked Kennesaw State’s first-ever A-Sun Conference title and NCAA Division I postseason berth.

The Owls were one of three finalists for the award along with the Buford High School football team and the Georgia women’s swimming and diving team.

Pentecost was a major catalyst in the Owls’ success as he was a 2014 first-team All-American, Johnny Bench Award winner and the No. 11 overall selection by the Toronto Blue Jays in last summer’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Kennesaw State’s leading hitter from a year was a finalist along with Georgia Tech men’s golfer Ollie Schniederjans and Georgia State men’s basketball player R.J. Hunter.

“When you do good things and work at things, you hope that once in a while you get recognized,” Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams said. “Our baseball program had a magnificent year. It represented everything that Kennesaw State is about. The possibilities of our young people and what they can do, not only the field, but as individuals. We’re really appreciative of Max Pentecost and his effort. He is a true Owl, along with Mike Sansing and the entire team.

“When you can get recognized inside the perimeter, by the businesses, the sports people in Atlanta I think it is an indication that we are doing some good things at Kennesaw State, both as a university and athletics department,” Williams added. “I’m very Owl Prod today.”