FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2-16-04

College Baseball: No. 4 AASU 4-4, No. 3 Kennesaw State 2-3

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Brian Dice’s drive off the wall plated Brandon McKinnon with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving No. 4 AASU a 4-3 victory and a series win over the No. 3-ranked Kennesaw State Owls on Monday afternoon. AASU won the second game of the series, 4-2, that was completed on Monday after being suspended by darkness on Sunday.

The third game of the series started as an excellent pitcher’s duel between KSU’s Sammy Reed and AASU’s Marcus Barriger. The two hurlers fired blanks through the first five innings until Kennesaw State (4-3, 1-2 PBC) broke through in the top of the sixth with a sacrifice fly by Jon Love to take a 1-0 lead. The Pirates (7-1, 2-1 PBC) struck back in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out rally as Adam Pelley singled, then a walk to Michael Pelley brought up George Fletcher, who doubled down the right field line, plating both Pelleys for a 2-1 lead. McKinnon then singled home Fletcher for the third run of the game and gave AASU a 3-1 lead.

Barriger worked into the seventh, but a leadoff walk and double by Kennesaw State chased him and brought in AASU reliever Brett Hart. Hart loaded the bases but got a ground ball out at home for one, then after a sacrifice fly by Adrian Colton scored the second run of the game, Hart got Scott Hendrix to ground out to squash the rally.

The top of the ninth saw the Pirates bring junior Chad Grass (1-1) into pitch. KSU’s Clint Watters singled to start the rally, and a sacrifice bunt moved him into scoring position for Hendrix, who then singled home Watters with the tying run, making it 3-3. Grass retired Scott Conway and Love to send the Pirates to the bottom of the ninth tied.

McKinnon led off the inning with a walk off of KSU reliever John Robbins (1-1), then a passed ball by KSU catcher Kevin Gergel and a sacrifice bunt by Steven Kinney placed McKinnon on third base with only one out. KSU reliever Travis King entered the game, and got freshman Sean Hotzak to strike out for the second out of the inning. King intentionally walked ninth-place hitter Brandon Nunez to get to Dice, who had struck out in his previous three at-bats, only to see Dice drive a pitch off the left-field wall for the winning run.

In the first game to be completed, AASU started the Saturday game up 4-1 after five innings, thanks to a Hotzak RBI double in the fourth and a McKinnon RBI double in the fifth when darkness forced the suspension of play after five complete innings. When play resumed on Monday morning, Kennesaw State plated one run in the top of the seventh but Josh Tallent retired Clint Watters with a runner on to save it for Leon Boyd (1-0), who pitched five innings of one-run ball to pick up the win. Jason Wimberly (0-1) took the loss for the Owls, pitching five innings and giving up five hits and four runs. Tallent’s save was his second of the season.

AASU returns to action on Friday, February 20, when the Pirates host Florida Southern in the first game of the 2004 Diamond Classic at 1:30 p.m. at Pirate Field. Kennesaw State returns to action on Tuesday in its home opener against Lincoln Memorial at 3:00 p.m.

-Pirates-