Photo by Darwin Moore / MTSU Sidelines
The MTSU baseball team is having its first home series of the season against Kennesaw State this weekend.
Following a 21-8 loss at Austin Peay on Tuesday, MTSU is looking to have a change of luck against a Kennesaw State team that’s on a three-game winning streak coming into Murfreesboro.
Below are a few story lines to watch as the Blue Raiders take on the Owls:
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Sitting at 3-5 this season, MTSU is hoping that they will be able to play as well at home during this series as they did last weekend in the Mule Mix Classic. The Blue Raiders are 2-1 at home on the year, and it has definitely been the site of their best games offensively, even if they did get shut out in the third game last weekend.
The Blue Raiders will hope that playing at Reese Smith Jr. Field will bring them as many runs as they were able to get last weekend, in which they scored a combined 31 runs.
DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
The Blue Raiders have given up three or more runs every game this season, and allowed a whopping 21 on Tuesday against Austin Peay.
MTSU will need to make sure the Owl offense doesn’t get hot in this series if they want a chance to get a W. Kennesaw State has been in four games where they’ve with eight or more runs so far in 2017. If the Blue Raider defense doesn’t show up to play, it could get out of hand once more.
MTSU PLAYERS TO WATCH
Kaleb King
King is coming into the weekend with a .412 batting average with six RBI’s and two doubles on the season.
Drew Huff
Huff leads the team with the highest batting average ( .414 ) and slugging percentage ( .586 ). He’s tied for second on the team in RBI’s with nine, and has one home run on the season.
KENNESAW STATE PLAYERS TO WATCH
Taylor Allum
Allum leads the Owls in home runs on the season with four. He also has the most RBI’s for Kennesaw State with 11.
Austin Upshaw
An ASUN All-Conference player, Upshaw leads the Owls starters in batting average ( .400 ) and doubles ( 5 ). He has two home runs this season and nine RBI’s.
GAME TIMES
Friday – 3 p.m.
Saturday – 2 p.m.
Sunday – 1 p.m.
Follow MTSU Baseball beat writers Anthony Fiorella (@A_Fiorella74), Ryan Nixon (@RNixon32), and Stephen Smith (@StEvo_Shield) on Twitter for more coverage.
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To contact Sports Editor Tyler Lamb (@Tlamb35), email sports@mtsusidelines.com.
