TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With a 4-2 win over Alabama on Monday afternoon, the Kennesaw State baseball team punched its ticket to the NCAA Super Regional, the Owls winning their first ever Division I Regional after lifting the NCAA Tallahassee Regional title.
Pitcher Travis Bergen was named the Regional’s Most Valuable Player after earning the win, checking in on short rest to go 3.1 innings of work, allowing just one hit and striking out two, notching his second win of the weekend.
KSU earns its 40th win of the season at 40-22 and becomes the first team since 1993 to win a regional in its first attempt. The Owls bested Alabama, Georgia Southern and No. 5 Florida State in the four-team tourney.
“It was an unbelievable experience here,” said KSU head coach Mike Sansing. “The city’s been great, Florida State’s been great in hosting this tournament. I am proud of our guys. It was an unbelievable effort — the whole time, not just today.
“But we came back today after last night and it was rough. I’m just proud of these guys, I love them all. I just want to thank everybody for believing in our program. It was just a great experience for me and I’m happy for them and our university.
“We started out a little slow, and we had to get to the pen early. James Connell, Bergen, Justin McCalvin, those guys came out strong and that’s what we needed. We just kind of recycled some guys through.
“I can’t say enough about what they did. Jacob Bruce gets the big hit there, the double, well a couple of them, but the big one. I thought our bullpen was the key to that game.”
