April 5, 2011
KENNESAW, Ga. – Ray Anderson’s walk-off single drove in one of three ninth inning runs for Kennesaw State (19-12) in a 7-6 come-back win over No. 8 Georgia Tech (23-7) on Tuesday night in front of a Stillwell Stadium record-crowd of 1,242 on Tuesday night.
Kennesaw State scored all three runs with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning, getting two of the runs on walks before Anderson’s single to right field off of Tech reliever Jacob Esch.
Sophomore Luke Bard (1-2) was credited with the loss after loading the bags on a hit batsmen, a walk and a single to right field by the Owl’s designated hitter Drew Fowlkes. Bard walked in a run before he was replaced by Esch.
Tech held the Owls to just six hits (all singles), but made some huge mistakes that led to four unearned runs on the evening. The Jackets issued a season-high 11 walks, hit two batters and committed two errors defensively.
“We walked way too many guys and we couldn’t make the plays when we needed too,” head coach Danny Hall said. “When a team scores seven runs on just six hits, you’re going to get beat when you walk as many, hit as many and make the errors we did tonight. There is nobody to blame except ourselves. We just didn’t do the job.”
Despite the slip-ups, Georgia Tech still put itself in a winning position after scoring three runs in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie. Freshman Kyle Wren and junior Matt Skole had RBI sacrifice flies to centerfield around a run scoring double from Esch off of Kennesaw State reliever Sean Fream.
Wren went 2-for-4 with two RBI to lead the Jackets at the plate.
The Owl’s would mount their rally in the top half of the seventh inning. Sean McClurken reached on a throwing error by Skole to leadoff the inning, before eventually coming home on a bases loaded walk by Tech pitcher Taylor Wood.
The walk was the only mistake by Wood on the night, as he held Kennesaw State hitless over 2 1/3 innings of relief.
Kennesaw State pitcher B.J. Johnson (3-1) earned the win in one inning of work, getting two pop-ups and a strikeout in a scoreless ninth inning on the mound.
The Jackets will host second-ranked Virginia for a three-game ACC series this weekend at Russ Chandler Stadium. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on Friday, 6 p.m. on Saturday and 12 p.m. on Sunday.
