KENNESAW, Ga. -- Down 5-0 early, and down 9-7 with two out in the ninth inning, the Stetson Hatters bounced off the mat to take a 10-9 victory over Kennesaw State Saturday afternoon at Stillwell Stadium.
The victory gives the Hatters (23-27, 8-18) a chance to take the series from the Owls (29-22, 16-10) in Sunday's series finale.
The Hatters rallied in the ninth inning on a three-run home run by redshirt junior Connor Kehl. It was the first home run in Kehl's three-year Stetson career and came with two out against KSU's Smith Pinson (5-4). Camden Traficante, who had a two-run homer in the fourth inning, got the ninth started with a one-out single. Redshirt junior Banks Griffith, who had a two-run single in the fifth inning, kept the Hatters alive with a two-out hit to bring Kehl to the plate, where he took a 1-1 pitch from Pinson off the KSU fieldhouse in left to put the Hatters in front.
Freshman Dominic Stagliano (4-0) picked up the victory out of the bullpen for Stetson. The right-hander went four innings in relief of starter Chris Gonzalez, giving up two runs, both earned, on three hits, allowing no walks and with three strike outs. Sophomore Austin Amaral, who had been penciled in as a possible game three starter, came on in the bottom of the ninth to record his first save of the year.
The Owls came out of the gate quickly on Senior Day, scoring in five of the first six innings. KSU scored single runs in the first two frames before scoring three times in the third with Donovan Cash and Cash Young delivering back-to-back homers for a 5-0 Owls lead.
Stetson answered in the fourth when Traficante hit his first homer of the year, a two-run shot off KSU starter John Bezdicek, to cut the Owls' lead to 5-2. Kennesaw State answered right back in the bottom of the inning, scoring a pair of runs on three hits to push the lead back to five at 7-2.
Stetson came right back with a four-run fifth off reliever Nathan Holler, who did not retire a batter. Cameron Hill started things with his second home run in as many days. After Kyle Ball was hit by a pitch and Christian Pregent singled, Jakob Bullard singled in a run. Pinson came on to pitch for KSU and retired the first two hitters he faced on strikes before Griffith delivered a clutch two-run single to get the Hatters to within 7-6.
Pregent tied the game in the sixth inning when he homered, but KSU responded in the bottom of the inning when Tyler Simon hit a two-run homer to put the Owls back in front 9-7. That is where things remained until the ninth.
Pregent, who left the game in the bottom of the sixth after taking a foul tip to the mask, joined Bullard, Traficante and Griffith with two hits each for the Hatters, who reached double-figures scoring for the first time since their 12-4 victory over Miami on April 26. Five Owls also had two hits each in the game.
The victory snapped a five-game losing skid against the Owls and gives the Hatters a chance to claim a crucial ASUN series victory on Sunday. First pitch in the series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
