By: KSU Sports Information
Box Score
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Pure and simply put, Bryan Blough was dominating. In throwing his second straight complete game, Kennesaw State’s senior struck out a career-high 14 batters as the Owls defeated ETSU, 5-4, at Cardinal Park on Friday night.
Just how overwhelming was Blough against the heralded ETSU offense. Consider this, five times he retired the side in order and he struck out at least one batter in seven of nine innings. For good measure he also struck out the side twice, including the bottom of the ninth inning when his fastball was still touching 92 miles per hour.
“This was an outstanding performance by Bryan tonight,” said head coach Mike Sansing. “His slider was about as good as I’ve ever seen. He had total control and was in command from the first inning. In the ninth, he was still dominating and in control.”
Blough (3-3) retired the side in order in the first inning and mowed down 10 of the first 11 batters he faced, with four coming from strikeouts as the held a 1-0 lead with one out in the fourth inning.
“I wanted to get off to a good start and keep the ball down,” said Blough. “The ballpark is so small that I knew I needed to keep the ball low and I was able to do that. Plus, my slider was really working well tonight and felt like I could throw it for a strike at any time.”
The small dimensions of Cardinal Park, which came into effect on Thursday when ETSU hit a pair of two-run home runs in one inning, played a major role in Friday’s game as well as Blough allowed a pair of solo homers in the fourth inning.
Paul Hoilman, who hit 26 home runs last season, drilled a home run over the left field wall for his 10th of the year and Derek Trent homered to left field one batter later as the Buccaneers (22-15, 11-10 A-Sun) took a 2-1 lead.
“I was never worried about the home runs,” added Blough. “Pitching in this park you basically know that because the fences are so close you are going to give up a couple of homers. I just stayed focused came back with the same amount of effort.”
Blough retired the next seven batters in a row, five by strikeout, including Hoilman to end the sixth inning as he kept the Owls (24-18, 11-8 A-Sun) in a one-run game heading into the seventh.
“I was going to go after him [Hoilman] and everyone else, even after the home runs,” mentioned Blough. “Hoilman was going to come to bat again whether I liked it or not, but I felt confident and was getting stronger as the game went on.”
The right-hander was indeed getting stronger as he didn’t throw his 100th pitch until the eighth inning, with three-quarters of those being strikes.
While in the midst of one of the strongest pitching performances of the past decade, the Owls still found themselves trailing, 2-1, as ETSU submariner Bo Burton was shutting down the Kennesaw State offense.
Burton (1-3), in his seventh start of the year, allowed only a solo home run to Ethan Herron in the second inning and through six frames scattered eight hits. After striking out Jordan Craft to start the seventh, Burton hit Ray Anderson with a pitch and Aaron Dobbs tied the game with a triple down the left field line.
ETSU decided to intentionally walk Ronnie Freeman to face Andy Chriscaden with hopes of an inning ending double play. However, Chriscaden, who had 10 home runs entering the game, made the Bucs pay when he skied a home run over the left center field wall that gave the Owls a 5-2 lead.
“At that point we just wanted to get the ball in the outfield to give us a lead,” said Sansing. “He [Chriscaden] got behind in the count, but he shortened it up and gave us the outfield fly we asked for, and then some.”
Pratt walked to leadoff the bottom of the seventh inning, the only walk of the game issued by Blough, and Trent followed with his second home run of the game, a two-run homer over the right field fence that trimmed the KSU lead to 5-4.
The Owls stranded a runner on third base in the eighth inning as Bo Reeder, the starting third baseman and of the nation’s top closers, struck out Craft and Will Howard to keep the game at a one-run margin. Reeder would strikeout four batters in an inning and two-thirds.
The bottom of the ninth inning saw Blough strikeout the first batter before Trent and Kerry Doane singled. After a pinch-runner Cory Betterson replaced Trent, Sansing came out to visit Blough.
“There wasn’t any talk outside of the pinch runner,” continued Sansing. “They had some speed on second base and I wanted to address the base runner. There wasn't even a thought of relieving Blough, I felt his stuff was too good for us not to stay with him.”
At that point Blough’s confidence was brimming and his fastball was touching 91 and 92 miles per hour as he struck out Matthew Scruggs looking on three pitches before mowing down pinch hitter Skyler Barnett on three straight strikes to end the game.
“Kyle Heckathorn and Chad Jenkins had some dominant games like this one,” added Sansing. “And I would put Bryan’s effort tonight right up there with them.”
The Owls and the Buccaneers will conclude their three-game series on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
