Owls Spoil Ninth Inning Rally, Walk-off With Game Two Win

Friday, May 16

Kennesaw, Ga.

6:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

23-27, 0

Kennesaw State

32-21, 0

North Florida

Kennesaw State

Photo by: ASUN Photos

5/16/2014 9:40:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Ospreys rallied for three runs in the top ninth inning to tie the game up at four, only to see the Owls come up with a 5-4, walk-off victory in the bottom half of the frame. The win clinches the series for the Owls who improve to 32-21 on season and have now won 14-straight Atlantic Sun games.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Jacob Bruce hit his third triple of the year to right field to put the winning run 90 feet away for the Owls. The next batter, Max Pentecost blooped a single over a drawn in Osprey infield to win the game for the Kennesaw State.,

The Osprey offense came alive in the top of the ninth, trailing 4-1 against the Atlantic Sun's save leader, Justin McLavin. With two outs, the Ospreys strung together three hits to tie the game. Garrick Ferguson got the rally started with an RBI double. Kyle Brooks brought the Ospreys within a run with a single to centerfield. He advanced to second on a rare wild pitch by McLavin and scored on a single through the right side off the bat of Patrick Ervin to tie the game.

Senior Bo Way and junior Chris McGowan were responsible for the first four Owl runs. Each recorded a home run in the contest and each scored twice. McGowan finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBIs while Way collected three hits and drove in his 27^th run of the season.

For the second-straight day, the Owl starting pitching kept the high-powered Osprey offense in check. Lefty Travis Bergen allowed only a first-inning run and pitched seven strong innings. He walked one and struck out two in the tough luck no-decision.

Osprey starting pitcher Nick Miller surrendered the two home runs but was solid in five innings of work. Miller struck out two and allowed three earned runs on the loss. Jamie Cardwell worked 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, facing seven batters and striking out one.

In their first turn at the plate, the Ospreys took advantage of an error to gain an early 1-0 lead. With runners on first and second, sophomore Corbin Olmstead singled up the middle to score Drew Weeks.

After going down 1-2-3 in the first, the Owls responded in the bottom of the second, with a pair of runs. The left-handed hitting, Way hit his second home run of the year over the right field wall to lead off the inning. The second run of the frame was able to score on an errant throw trying to execute a 5-4-3 double play.

The long ball hurt the Ospreys again in the bottom of the fifth McGowan extended the Kennesaw State lead to 4-1 with a two-run blast over the right field wall.

The series finale will take place tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.