KSU Sweeps Belmont

The Kennesaw State Owls used a combination of prolific offense and continued solid pitching to sweep a road doubleheader against the Belmont Bruins on Friday afternoon, 9-0 and 6-0. The sweep clinched a spot for the Owls in the 2011 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.Jessica Cross and Abbey Meixel each tossed complete game shutouts for the Owls (28-22, 10-8 Atlantic Sun Conference), who were shutout in consecutive games at Lipscomb on Thursday evening.

Cross was dominant in all aspects of the first game, retiring the first 15 batters she saw on her way to facing the minimum 18 in the six inning game, and going 3-for-3 with two home runs, driving in four runs. She struck out four batters, and allowed just one base runner in the ball game, a lead-off bloop single over second base in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Black and Gold led from the get-go, scoring three runs in the first, two of the runs coming via Cross, who launched her 12th home run of the season to center field to give the Owls a 2-0 lead. Sharon Swanson would also come across in the first inning, doubling to the wall in right center before coming around on an illegal pitch two batters later.

Cross would continue to provide the offense for the Black and Gold, following a lead-off single by Ashlee Burkett with her second home run of the day, a high-arching shot that comfortably cleared the left center field fence to make it a 5-0 game. The round-tripper gave the Tunnel Hill, Ga., native her third multi-home run game of the season and tied her with teammate Sharon Swanson for the A-Sun lead with 13 home runs on the season.

Swanson would take the conference home run lead back for herself in the seventh inning, hitting a high fly ball that just cleared the fence down the left field line, to make it 9-0, Swanson’s 14th home run of the season.

Meixel kept Belmont (10-37. 3-15 A-Sun) in check offensively, shutting out the Bruins on their senior day in the second game over seven innings of work. She allowed just three hits while striking out seven.

The Owls chipped away at the plate while Meixel carved up the home team, and it started with Ashlee Burkett, who blasted a home run down the left field line in the top of the third inning to make it a 2-0 game and put the guests up for good.

Kennesaw State’s sweep, coupled with Stetson getting swept at Florida Gulf Coast on Friday evening, was what punched the Owls second straight ticket to the A-Sun Tournament, which begins May 11 at USC Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C. The winner of the tournament will earn an automatic bid to an NCAA Regional.

Whitlock’s squad visits one of the top teams in the nation, the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs, on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. They wrap up conference play, and their regular season, next Saturday at Mercer.