05/02/2021
The Kennesaw Generals (21-8-2) won both of their pool games on Saturday afternoon at the PRB State Championships being played at the Lakepoint Sports Complex in Emerson, Ga. Kennesaw will advance as an at large bid after going 2-0-1 in pool play. They now must await their quarterfinal opponent, which will not be determined until pool play is finished on Sunday morning. The Generals should finish as the #4 seed and will play at noon on Sunday.
Game 1 vs. Team Elite Sluggers Manton
In game one, the Generals were visitors and jumped on Team Elite early with three runs. Ryan Trout and Jordan Sanders both walked to start the game. Trout stole second and scored on back to back wild pitches. Sanders scored on a James Lowe triple. Lowe was caught stealing home, but later in the inning Jordan Littles walked, went to second on a wild pickoff attempt and came around to score on a pair of wild pitches of his own to make it 3-o as the teams headed to the bottom of the 1st.
The Sluggers battled back in the bottom of the 1st to tie the game off Generals starter Jaxon Bowen (0-0, 10.00). A pair of walks, a dropped fly ball in the outfield and a single helped the Sluggers tie the game, but a line drive back to Bowen that he snagged and fired to second for a double play kept the game at 3-3.
The Sluggers then took a brief lead in the bottom of the 2nd after the Generals failed to score in the top of the inning. A lead-off walk, a single and an error put a runner at 3rd when Bowen struck out a Sluggers batter with a breaking ball in the dirt. On the throw to first to record the out, the runner raced home for a 4-3 lead.
The Generals tied it at four in the top of the 3rd. Sanders reached on a two walk and stole second before Lowe doubled to right to score him. A strikeout ended the inning. Team Elite did not score in the bottom of the 3rd, as Sanders (1-0, 5.43) relieved Bowen and pitched around a one out walk.
The Generals busted the game open in the top of the 4th. Bowen got things started with a one out single. Skyler Lee followed with a walk. Then Chance Williams plated Bowen with a single down the 3rd base line. Lee would then come around to score on a passed ball three pitches later and Williams scored on a RBI groundout by Grant Travelstead which made the score 7-4 Generals.
Sanders set the Sluggers down in order in the bottom of the 4th with the help of his second pick off of the game. The Generals then put the game away in the top of the 5th. The Generals plated nine runs in the inning. Kennesaw got singles from Jennings Allen, Trout, Sanders, Hunter Duchaj, Bowen, and Williams in the inning. They also received a double by Littles and a solo home Run from Lowe. The homer by Lowe was his 3rd extra base hit of the game leaving him just a single shy of hitting for the cycle as he had tripled in his first at bat, doubled in his second at bat and homered in the third at bat.
Sanders then struck out the side in the bottom of the 5th to give the Generals the run rule victory. The final score was 16-4.
“James is just a hitting machine, I know it’s not, but pretty much feels like it’s automatic for him up there” stated Head Coach Joey Williams after the game. “It was good for us to face some adversity there early and see us fight back and take care of business toward the end. Dubee (Jordan Sanders) threw the ball great and gave us some big innings today.” continued Coach Williams.
Game 2 vs. Norcross Blue Devils
The Generals wasted no time jumping on the board in the second game of the day. James Lowe continued his hitting onslaught when he hit a two out double down the left field line. He then advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch and was balked home to make it 1-0 as the teams went to the bottom of the first.
Grant Travelstead (2-1, 4.70) drew the start against the Norcross Blue Devils and blanked them through the first three innings. In the top of the 2nd, Kennesaw went back to work on offense. In the inning, Jordan Littles reached on a pop fly that three infielders converged on near the pitchers mound, but no one caught. That coupled with walks to Jaxon Bowen and Chance Williams along with a double by Travelstead and a single single by Jennings Allen plated four and gave the Generals a commanding 5-0 lead.
The Generals went quietly in the 3rd, but in the top of the 4th they scored two more runs when Bowen walked, went to 2nd on a groundout, 3rd on a wild pitch, and then scored on a passed ball. In almost the same fashion, Travelstead walked, went to 2nd on a stolen base, 3rd on a passed ball, and then he scored on a wild pitch. That made the score 7-0 Generals heading to the bottom of the 4th.
Norcross put their first run of the game on the board in the bottom of the inning. A lead-off single came around to score one out later on a double, but the lone run is all they could manage as Travelstead shut the door with a strikeout and a grounder to 3rd.
In the 5th, the Generals responded with three more runs. Allen led the inning off with a single, Ryan Trout drew a walk, Sanders blated a ground rule double over the center fielders head, and Lowe recorded his fifth hit of the day to make the score 10-1 Generals.
Travelstead ran into a little trouble in the bottom of the 5th as he pitched deeper into the game that he has all season. He hit the lead-off batter, recorded an out on a sac bunt, but then gave up a two run home run on a 3-2 count after the ball hit the top of the fence in center and bounced over for the two run homer. Travelstead was then lifted in favor of Allen (1-0, 3.86) to finish the game. Allen induced a grounder to short and got a pop out to second to end the game as time expired.
“The offense was much better today and I can’t say enough about the job that Grant did on the mound today. We didn’t find the right time to get him into a game during our last tournament, but he showed again why he is a guy that we can count on. He just got a little tired there at the end, but it was an outstanding effort on his part” stated Coach Trout after the nightcap.
The Generals will be back in action tomorrow at noon when they will be one of six teams competing for the PBR State Championship. Fans of the Generals can follow all the action live on the teams GameChanger page.
The Kennesaw Generals (21-8-2) won both of their pool games on Saturday afternoon at the PRB State Championships being played at the Lakepoint Sports Complex in Emerson, Ga. Kennesaw will advance as an at large bid after going 2-0-1 in pool play. They now must await their quarterfinal opponent, whic...