KENNESAW, Georgia - March 29, 2006 - The Owls jumped out to a 5-2 lead after three innings and fought off a bases loaded rally in the top of the ninth inning to defeat Alabama-Birmingham, 8-6, in a non-conference game on Wednesday night at Stillwell Stadium.

The Owls (13-13) moved to .500 with the victory as Justin Freeman raised his record to 3-0, allowing just one earned run in five innings of work. The Blazers (13-13) dropped their ninth game in their last ten as Dane Dale stranded the bases loaded as he picked up his first save of the season.

Leading 8-5 heading into the top of the ninth inning, the Owls Michael Bohana quickly got the first two outs and seemed to be headed towards his third save of the season before things unraveled. Jorge Gutierrez singled to left field and Donny Muth followed with an infield single to put runners on first and second.

Steven Turner was then hit by a pitch and Ryan Metcalf walked to make the score 8-6. Dale then relieved Bohana and got Danny Sawyer to ground out to shortstop to end the game and give the Owls their second straight win.

Kennesaw State mustered just six hits in the game with Matt Nelson picking up a pair of hits and driving in two runs. Scott Hendrix hit his first home run of the season in the fifth inning making the score, 6-2. The home run would prove to be a bigger run than thought as the Blazers scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning.

It was another two-out rally in the sixth that helped the Blazers get back in the game. Micah Sales retired Gutierrez on a pop up and struck out Torrey Croft. However, Turner singled through the left side and Metcalf reached on an infield hit before Sawyer doubled to make the score, 6-4. An error by Ryan Perry brought in Turner from second and cut the lead to one run before Sales struck out Robert Brewster looking to end the threat.

UAB had 15 hits in the game, but also left 15 runners on base including leaving at least one runner on base in all nine innings. Turner and Sawyer had three hits on the night while Metcalf, Gutierrez and Billy Lichtner had two hits.

The Owls will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Nashville to play Lipscomb in a three-game Atlantic Sun Conference series on Saturday and Sunday.