CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Kennesaw State baseball (21-15, 11-5 Atlantic Sun Conference) delivered a come-from-behind victory Friday night to topple the Queens Royals (10-27, 6-10 ASUN), 6-5, at The Stick Williams Dream Fields
KSU finished the sixth inning down 5-1 but a four-run seventh and a bases-loaded walk by
Chris Cole in the eighth gave the Black and Gold a decisive sixth run to hand the Owls their 11th conference win of 2024.
Third baseman
Isaac Bouton once again came through clutch for KSU with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored on three hits. Catcher
Nick Hassan joined him with two hits of his own.
Reliever
Luke Cooper (2-0) secured the victory with six strikeouts in 2.1 innings while
Bo Rhudy notched his first save this season.
Queens took an early 2-0 lead. In the sixth inning, Bouton singled to center to record his 14th multi-hit game of 2024. A double by Hassan moved Bouton to third with none out.
Zac Corbin then sent a grounder to second that allowed Bouton to score and cut the deficit in half, 2-1. Queens added three in the sixth to take a 5-1 advantage.
Bouton doubled in the seventh to score
Jackson Chirello and
Shamaar McDuffie. A passed ball scored Cole to make 5-4, then a sac fly from Hassan plated Bouton and evened the game at five.
A leadoff double by Chirello in the eighth started the KSU rally. McDuffie was hit by a pitch then
Brayden Eidson singled, loading the bases for Cole.
The junior drew a five-pitch, bases-loaded walk to put Kennesaw State in front for the first time at 6-5.
Cooper struck out two in the bottom of the eighth followed by Rhudy who punched out two more including the final Queens batter, sealing the win for KSU.
UP NEXT
KSU and Queens conclude their series with a doubleheader Saturday, April 20 beginning at 12:00 p.m.
The Owls' next game inside Stillwell Stadium is a rematch against the Georgia Bulldogs on Tuesday, April 30. Fans can purchase ticketsÂ
here.
