STATESBORO - Kennesaw State snapped a 4-4 tie in the top of the seventh inning to collect a 5-4 non-conference victory from host Georgia Southern on Wednesday afternoon at Eagle Field.

The win improves the Owls' record to 26-24 overall, while Georgia Southern fell to 19-25 with the loss. It was only the second win for Kennesaw State in the last nine meetings, but the Owls still lead the overall series between the two in-state rivals, 17-11.

Early on it was a battle of the longball as Kennesaw State's Maddie Roth hit a two-run first-inning blast to stake the Owls to an early 2-0 lead, but the Eagles answered in the bottom of the first with a two-run shot from Faith Shirley.

Macy Coleman then gave the Eagles a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the second with an RBI double, but solo home runs from Roth and Taylor Cates put Kennesaw State back up by one, 4-3, at the end of four innings.

Mekhia Freeman tied things up by herself in the bottom of the fifth as she led off the frame with a triple, then scored on a wild pitch.

In the top of the seventh, Christen Florence tripled to right to lead off the inning, then one battter later, Kira Czyrklis doubled to left to drive in the winning run.

"I think they're still trying to implement things we're practicing," Georgia Southern Head Coach Kim Dean said. "They're continuing to love the competition, we saw a lot of dives today. And our younger players are still hitting the ball hard, continuing to do the right things. We just need a find a few different ways to get some wins out of these tight games."

Hailey Andrews (18-14) hurled 1 1/3 perfect innings, striking out all four batters she faced, to earn the win in relief for the Owls. Shelby Barfield (2-3) took the loss for the Eagles, giving up four hits and one run in 3 2/3 innings of work.