As you guys may know, I do a feature during the Basketball Tournament called Meet the Opponents. The idea popped into my head today to do one for our opponents and visitors to Patterson Stadium this weekend, The Kennesaw State Owls. Many reasons came to mind. A lot of us don’t know much about them. They are not a huge name. Most importantly, this is my story and I will write about whatever I want. Ok, the last reason had zero affect on why, but it’s my story and I can just make up a reason if I want. On a serious note, I hope you enjoy the tidbits and facts also known as Meet The Opponents.
Kennesaw State
- Located in Kennesaw, Georgia. Is in the Metro Atlanta area
- School Mascot is Scrappy the Owl
- Has only been a D1 school for 5 years
- 32 players have been drafted by MLB clubs with 5 making rosters
Famous Alumni:
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visiting History professor
Ty Pennington, host of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Susan Sewell, VP Media Relations, ABC Television
Willie Harris, Washington Nationals Major League Baseball player, World Series Champion with Chicago White Sox, 2005
At least we know they have fun in Kennesaw
TWEETS:
We made it! Welcome to Louisville Owl Nation! #GoKSUOwls
— Kennesaw State BSB (@KSUOwlsBaseball) June 5, 2014
Heading to Super Regionals! Love this team! Ain't scared or intimidated by anyone! #NotDoneYet http://t.co/jGC0VQsQCS
— Chris McGowan (@ChrisMac_05) June 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/jbrucealmighty/status/473553795197452288
These guys are pumped….
Here are their new uni’s……
https://twitter.com/KSUOwlsBaseball/status/474381264884355072
2014 Campaign:
40-22 (17-9 Atlantic Sun)
- 3-0 vs Georgia Southern
- 2-1 vs Alabama
- 2-0 vs Georgia
Max Pentecost is the man on this owls team. he leads the team in runs (59),hits (110), Doubles (23), HR (9), RBI (58), Total Bases (164), Slugging % (.631) and BB (29). You name it, he can do it. He is similar to the dynamic player we faced in the Regionals from uk, AJ Reed. As far as pitching is concerned, the owls don’t have much depth and boast a team ERA of 3.41. Jordan Hillyer is their ace with an ERA of 3.55 and a record of 7-3. So I know you all are salivating, we have a cupcake Super-Regional, all of the normal things you think of when you see KSU across from you. But there is just something about this team. They defeated Alabama twice and crushed Ga Southern in the regionals. They will have the Cinderella momentum behind them. Everyone will be cheering for them across America as well. Here’s where I believe Louisville will have the advantage, team speed. Kal Simmons and Dylan Ivey have combined for 39 errors this year in the infield. As fast as we are we can surely force more of those this weekend. We are a small-ball team and don’t need to hit it out to win. My prediction 2-0 sweep and on a roll on our way to Omaha. #RollMaha. Ok that may not catch on, who cares, see you at the Jim!
Go Cards!
*Below are full team stats
Batting:
| Player | avg | gp-gs | ab | r | h | 2b | 3b | hr | rbi | tb | slg% | bb | hbp | so | gdp | ob% | sf | sh | sb | sba | po | a | e | fld% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentecost, Max | .423 | 62-62 | 260 | 59 | 110 | 23 | 2 | 9 | 58 | 164 | .631 | 29 | 4 | 25 | 6 | .483 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 19 | 355 | 32 | 10 | .975 |
| Liquori, Alex | .366 | 49-47 | 172 | 37 | 63 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 42 | 89 | .517 | 17 | 2 | 36 | 2 | .427 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 89 | 0 | 3 | .967 |
| Way, Bo | .358 | 58-57 | 232 | 40 | 83 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 31 | 109 | .470 | 16 | 4 | 21 | 3 | .404 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 15 | 147 | 4 | 4 | .974 |
| Bennett, Colin | .309 | 23-13 | 55 | 9 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 23 | .418 | 13 | 2 | 13 | 1 | .457 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Morgan, Brennan | .291 | 55-52 | 203 | 40 | 59 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 40 | 81 | .399 | 20 | 6 | 31 | 5 | .368 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 122 | 12 | 1 | .993 |
| Bruce, Jacob | .277 | 61-60 | 256 | 55 | 71 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 28 | 94 | .367 | 15 | 5 | 31 | 7 | .327 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 18 | 118 | 4 | 1 | .992 |
| McGowan, Chris | .271 | 60-57 | 218 | 29 | 59 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 44 | 82 | .376 | 22 | 2 | 42 | 2 | .337 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 479 | 25 | 7 | .986 |
| Bahnick, Matt | .269 | 48-45 | 156 | 12 | 42 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 54 | .346 | 8 | 0 | 30 | 5 | .299 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 60 | 11 | .882 |
| Simmons, Kal | .268 | 60-60 | 261 | 43 | 70 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 80 | .307 | 22 | 4 | 32 | 4 | .328 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 112 | 184 | 23 | .928 |
| Motley, Justin | .261 | 38-13 | 69 | 13 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 28 | .406 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 3 | .325 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 41 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Nixon, Cornell | .230 | 46-37 | 122 | 15 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 31 | .254 | 13 | 4 | 27 | 0 | .315 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 64 | 117 | 10 | .948 |
| Ivey, Dylan | .167 | 31-24 | 84 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 14 | .167 | 6 | 1 | 21 | 4 | .228 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 58 | 14 | .873 |
| Howell, Jeremy | .164 | 46-18 | 67 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 11 | .164 | 11 | 1 | 13 | 0 | .291 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 42 | 3 | .948 |
| ———- | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Erwin, Chris | .333 | 22-14 | 21 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 10 | .476 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .391 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Wynn, Clint | .281 | 13-7 | 32 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | .344 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .324 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 4 | 4 | .923 |
| Banks, jonathan | .000 | 1-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Britt, Eric | .000 | 6-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Hawkins, Kendall | .000 | 8-3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Totals | .299 | 62-62 | 2210 | 377 | 661 | 99 | 20 | 27 | 335 | 881 | .399 | 200 | 40 | 341 | 43 | .363 | 32 | 55 | 62 | 83 | 1710 | 646 | 98 | .960 |
| Opponents | .260 | 62-62 | 2178 | 271 | 567 | 84 | 3 | 15 | 236 | 702 | .322 | 211 | 65 | 458 | 28 | .340 | 26 | 53 | 61 | 90 | 1666 | 734 | 100 | .960 |
Picked off: Simmons, Kal (2), Bruce, Jacob (2), Pentecost, Max (2), McGowan, Chris (1), Morgan, Brennan (1), Ivey, Dylan (1)
Pitching:
| Player | era | w-l | app-gs | cg | sho | sv | ip | h | r | er | bb | so | 2b | 3b | hr | ab | b/avg | wp | hbp | bk | sfa | sha |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McCalvin, Justin | 2.09 | 5-3 | 38-0 | 0 | 0-5 | 16 | 60.1 | 40 | 19 | 14 | 18 | 60 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 206 | .194 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Connell, James | 2.14 | 7-3 | 35-0 | 0 | 0-4 | 2 | 46.1 | 44 | 15 | 11 | 14 | 65 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 179 | .246 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Bergen, Travis | 2.39 | 9-4 | 16-15 | 0 | 0-2 | 0 | 94.0 | 94 | 29 | 25 | 14 | 75 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 366 | .257 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Erwin, Chris | 3.16 | 3-1 | 15-8 | 0 | 0-2 | 0 | 42.2 | 44 | 20 | 15 | 24 | 33 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 164 | .268 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Friese, Gabe | 3.19 | 2-2 | 17-8 | 0 | 0-1 | 0 | 73.1 | 76 | 32 | 26 | 15 | 41 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 290 | .262 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Hillyer, Jordan | 3.55 | 7-3 | 17-17 | 1 | 0-1 | 0 | 96.1 | 95 | 49 | 38 | 37 | 73 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 368 | .258 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 11 |
| Solomon, Will | 4.85 | 1-0 | 17-1 | 0 | 0-1 | 0 | 26.0 | 28 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 104 | .269 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Harsh, Nathan | 4.92 | 3-3 | 16-8 | 0 | 0-1 | 0 | 53.0 | 56 | 33 | 29 | 25 | 42 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 202 | .277 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| McArthur, Cole | 5.02 | 1-1 | 14-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 28.2 | 38 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 111 | .342 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| ———- | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hawkins, Kendall | 2.70 | 1-1 | 6-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 13.1 | 17 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 55 | .309 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ward, Mason | 4.36 | 1-0 | 10-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 10.1 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 37 | .189 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Lowman, Will | 4.50 | 0-0 | 11-1 | 0 | 2-0 | 0 | 10.0 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 33 | .212 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Austin, Andrew | 7.25 | 0-1 | 13-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 13.2 | 18 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 54 | .333 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Bancroft, Benjamin | 13.50 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2.0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | .333 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 3.41 | 40-22 | 226-62 | 1 | 6 | 18 | 570.0 | 567 | 271 | 216 | 211 | 458 | 84 | 3 | 15 | 2178 | .260 | 24 | 65 | 6 | 26 | 53 |
| Opponents | 4.83 | 22-40 | 225-62 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 555.1 | 661 | 377 | 298 | 200 | 341 | 99 | 20 | 27 | 2210 | .299 | 71 | 40 | 4 | 32 | 55 |
Pickoffs: McArthur, Cole (5), McCalvin, Justin (3), Erwin, Chris (3), Solomon, Will (1)
Fielding:
| Player | c | po | a | e | fld% | dp | sba | csb | pb | ci |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motley, Justin | 42 | 41 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bennett, Colin | 35 | 33 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Erwin, Chris | 15 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| McArthur, Cole | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| McCalvin, Justin | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harsh, Nathan | 9 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Austin, Andrew | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Lowman, Will | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ward, Mason | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Britt, Eric | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hawkins, Kendall | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Morgan, Brennan | 135 | 122 | 12 | 1 | .993 | 2 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Bruce, Jacob | 123 | 118 | 4 | 1 | .992 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| McGowan, Chris | 511 | 479 | 25 | 7 | .986 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pentecost, Max | 397 | 355 | 32 | 10 | .975 | 1 | 41 | 21 | 4 | 2 |
| Way, Bo | 155 | 147 | 4 | 4 | .974 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Liquori, Alex | 92 | 89 | 0 | 3 | .967 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hillyer, Jordan | 24 | 6 | 17 | 1 | .958 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Nixon, Cornell | 191 | 64 | 117 | 10 | .948 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Howell, Jeremy | 58 | 13 | 42 | 3 | .948 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Friese, Gabe | 17 | 5 | 11 | 1 | .941 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Bergen, Travis | 16 | 1 | 14 | 1 | .938 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Simmons, Kal | 319 | 112 | 184 | 23 | .928 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wynn, Clint | 52 | 44 | 4 | 4 | .923 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bahnick, Matt | 93 | 22 | 60 | 11 | .882 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ivey, Dylan | 110 | 38 | 58 | 14 | .873 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Connell, James | 18 | 4 | 11 | 3 | .833 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Solomon, Will | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .667 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Bancroft, Benjamin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Banks, jonathan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 2454 | 1710 | 646 | 98 | .960 | 101 | 61 | 26 | 7 | 2 |
| Opponents | 2500 | 1666 | 734 | 100 | .960 | 152 | 62 | 20 | 7 | 2 |
