Kennesaw State baseball earns home win over Georgia

Release from Kennesaw State Athletics:

The Kennesaw State baseball team backed a gutsy pitching performance from AJ Moore to earn a 2-1 decision over crosstown rival Georgia Wednesday (April 15) night in front of 1,111 fans at Stillwell Stadium. The Owls and Bulldogs concluded their season series, splitting the two-game series with each team winning on their home field.

With the win, the Owls’ overall record jumped to 20-17 overall while the Bulldogs slipped to 20-18 overall. KSU, dating back to last year, have won three of the past four games against the SEC in-state foe.

“I thought out guys played really well in a hard-fought game. It was a close game and every play is a big play in games like tonight,” head coach Mike Sansing said. “Fortunately we were able to get it done tonight and come away with the win.

Moore, a freshman from Dacula, Georgia, was solid from opening pitch, allowing just one run and five hits over 7.0 innings of work. The right-hander held the Bulldogs’ potent offense –which entered the game averaging 5.89 runs per game—scoreless through the first five innings of play.

Moore (2-1) outdueled three Georgia pitchers that were thrown at the Owls while he stayed in the game, earning his second win of the season in his sixth start. Moore retired 15 of his first 20 batters he faced to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard, allowing Kennesaw State to back him up with the only two runs that mattered.

“I thought AJ [Moore] threw well tonight. It was nice to see him get deep into the game and he keep us right there,” Sansing said.

In a hard-fought, pitcher’s duel, the Bulldogs countered with Mike Mancuso –who was charged with the tough-luck loss—, Ryan Avidano, Jared Cheek and Taylor Hicks –the brother of Logan Hicks— to match Moore step-by-step, limiting the Owls’ offense to two runs.

Kennesaw State jumped on the board early, scoring the game’s first run in the bottom of the opening frame off the bat of Kal Simmons. Grant Williams, who lead KSU’s offense finishing the night 3-for-4 with an RBI, led things off with what appeared to be a single to center field, but with aggressive base running the freshman stretched the hit to a double. Simmons followed with an RBI single to center to bring home Williams for his team-leading 32nd RBI.

The run proved worthy for Moore, as the right-hander dealt zero’s across the scoreboard through the first five frames to keep the game at 1-0. Moore’s best stretch came when he retired nine of 10 Bulldog batters from the second frame to the fourth to handcuff Georgia’s offense.

The Owls doubled their lead with what ended up being the most important run of the game in the fifth. Kennesaw State got the bottom half going when Alex Liquori walked and moved into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt off the bat of Drew Davis. That set things up for Williams, who singled to left field, bringing Liquori across home plate.

The two-run lead proved to be enough, even though Georgia got one run back in the top of the sixth to pull within one. But the Owls’ bullpen backed Moore’s strong performance, as Logan Hutchinson and Will Lowman allowed just one hit in three innings of relief.

Lowman, who earned his fourth save of the season, came into the ballgame with one out in the eighth inning, working out of a jam before retiring the side in the ninth.

“The bullpen has been a key for us. The seventh and eighth innings are were things get tight and Lowman has been pitching well,” Sansing said.