Owls’ Baseball Take Second Straight Over UAB, 6-3

Release from Kennesaw State Athletics:

The Kennesaw State baseball team outdueled the UAB Blazers at Stillwell Stadium on Saturday (March 5) afternoon, securing the weekend series with a 6-3 victory. The game, which lasted just under two and a half hours, marked the second of three scheduled weekend games at Kennesaw State University. With the win, KSU extended its winning streak to three games, improving its record to 8-4 overall. The Blazers fell to an identical 8-4 overall record with the loss.

Pitching was the story for most of the day, as Kennesaw State’s Travis Bergen and AJ Moore combined to allow just three runs (one earned) on 11 hits to the potent Blazers’ offense. Bergen (2-2) proved to be too much for the Blazers, surrendering just one run (unearned) on seven hits while striking out five in 6.2 innings of work on the mound.

“Bergen threw a lot of pitches today, but I thought he pitched well for us.” Head coach Mike Sansing said.

On the other side of the mound was UAB’s James Naile, who entered the game with a perfect 3-0 record and a 0.43 ERA. The Owls managed just six hits off the Blazers’ weekend starter, but were able to capitalize when it counted to hand the right-handed pitcher his first loss of the season.

Both pitchers held their ground in the early stages of the game, as the Owls managed a slight 2-1 lead entering the sixth inning. Bergen retired nine of his first 12 batters he faced in the game, including six ground outs, keeping the ball low in the zone to force the Blazers into difficult swings.

Holding a slight 2-1 lead over UAB, the Owls’ offense came to life in the sixth and seventh innings. Entering the game, the Owls have outscored their opponents by an 18-10 margin in those two innings, and once again proved to be too much during that stretch, scoring four runs to secure the victory and series.

Chris Erwin, who went 3-for-4 at the plate in yesterday’s contest, –and has gone 11-for-20 (.550) over his last five games—had an RBI in the sixth inning to extend KSU’s lead to 3-1, scoring freshman Grant Williams –who went 1-for-4 on the day—from third base after leading off the inning with a single to center field.

“With two outs it’s hard to put up runs and it was impressive to see those guys extend the inning. We took advantage of that and it was nice to see,” Sansing said.”

Taylor Allum, who had a two-out, two-RBI, double in the bottom half of the second inning to give the Owls the lead, lead off the bottom of the seventh getting on base after Naile hit him. After Kal Simmons walked, Erwin again came through once more for the Owls. This time the Grayson, Georgia native doubled down the right field line to plate a pair of Owls, giving KSU its largest lead of the game at 6-1.

“Taylor got a big hit for us early in the game to give us the lead. That was huge,” Sansing said. “We were able to keep adding to that lead and pushing some across home plate.”

Freshman pitcher Moore, who relieved Bergen in the seventh inning with two outs, pitched the final 2.1 innings to help secure the win. It was Moore’s fourth appearance of the season for the Owls, and third appearance at Stillwell Stadium.