By Omid Alaee
The Kennesaw State University Owls baseball team is starting their season this Friday. They will start with a three game home series against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. The Owls are coming off a 34-25 record from last season where they went to the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship tournament. They are returning two players who are hitting over .300. They have sophomore Ryan Raper who played a limited role last season with only starting one game. However he did make an appearance in six games and batted .429 (3 for 7) in his few at bats. Mainly playing third base and catcher, he will be able to compete for a starting position and show us his abilities consistently. The other bat joining is Anthony Duran, who is a sophomore out of the sunshine state. Like Ryan, Anthony had a limited role last season with only appearing in six games. He batted .333 in six at bats. He will be competing with fellow teammates for first base position. He is already getting some MLB recognition because of his size and athletic abilities. Coming into the season with some experience can help out the team. Pitching staff has quite a few young players that can help each other work hard for a spot in the starting rotation. They have a great relief pitcher in James Connell, who has showed he can come in and help the team down the stretch. This year’s team has a lot of young talent coming in that can provide immediate contributions.
