'BANGOR, Maine  --  Freshman Shawn Gilblair (Windham, Conn.) went 3-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI to help the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors defeat the Keene State College Owls 5-2 and win the 2006 Little East Conference Baseball Tournament Sunday afternoon at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor, Maine.

The third-seeded Warriors came through the losers bracket the final two days of the six-team, double-elimination tournament to win their fifth LEC title in the 10-year history of the tournament.

After rain washed out Friday's schedule at the University of Southern Maine, the tournament host, the four remaining teams moved north to Bangor and the University of Maine in Orono, Maine.  The Warriors defeated the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and the University of Southern Maine in a pair of elimination games Saturday for the right to face Keene State in the championship round, then knocked off the second-seeded Owls twice on Sunday to claim the crown.

With the championship, Eastern Connecticut (29-17) earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament which will begin regional tournament play on Wednesday (May 17).  Keene State (31-14) will wait to see if it is awarded an at-large berth into the national tournament field which is expected to be announced late Sunday night or early Monday morning.

"It was a tough day," said KSC associate coach Marty Testo, who coached the Owls in the second game after head coach Ken Howe had to leave due to a death in the family.  "We faced their top pitcher who we haven't seen all season in the first game and couldn't get the big hit in the second game."

Gilblair pitched a complete game in the first game Sunday to give Eastern Connecticut a 3-1 win over the Owls and force the final game.  The rookie pitcher/DH was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after going 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA on the mound and batting .421 (8-for-19) with four runs scored, five RBI, one double and seven walks.

In the final game, Eastern Conn. built a 4-0 lead over the first five innings to take command.  The Warriors score twice in the second and once in the third and fifth innings to go up 4-0.

Sophomore Zach Thomas (East Haddam, Conn.) led off the second with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on Gilblair's single to left.  Thomas scored when a balk was called against KS junior starter Jon Young (Rindge, N.H.).  Gilblair came around on a two-out single up the middle by junior Eric O'Toole (Waterbury, Conn.).

The Warriors got their run in the third when Thomas singled with two outs to chase home senior Chris DeSantis (Shrewsbury, Mass.).  In the fifth, Gilblair singled with two outs to score junior Matt Cooney (Arlington, Mass.).

The teams traded runs in the seventh.  DeSantis had an RBI single for the Warriors while KS senior Nick Arroyo (Northridge, Calif.) hit a solo home run for the Owls.

Keene State, which shared the LEC regular season crown with Southern Maine, threatened to tie the game in the ninth.  Sophomore Ryan Jones (Pelham, N.H.) and freshman Jeff Perkins (Dunbarton, N.H./Goffstown) drew back-to-back walks to lead off the inning.  Freshman Jamie Chevalier (Amherst, N.H.) singled home Jones to cut the lead to 5-2.

Eastern Conn. brought on sophomore Joe Esposito (East Haven, Conn.) to try and nail down the win.  Esposito retired the first two batters he faced before walking sophomore Greg Ford (Nashua, N.H.) to load the bases, bringing sophomore Joe Rousseau (Nashua, N.H.) to the plate.  Rousseau, who had three hits in the game, grounded out to end the game.

Senior right-hander Alex Narus (Prospect, Conn.) hurled six shutout innings to pick up his third win of the season.  Esposito picked up his first save.  Gilblair and Thomas were the lone repeat hitters for the Warriors.

Rousseau and Chevalier, who had two hits, led Keene State's 10-hit attack.  The Owls left 13 runners stranded during the game.  Young, who gave up four runs (three earned) in 4.2 innings, took the loss to fall to 5-2.

As far as the teams' chances to land an NCAA at-large berth Testo said.  "Some people think we'll get in and others don't think so.  We had a chance to take care of business against Eastern, but couldn't get the job done.  I think we're an NCAA team, but it's tough to get there when you don't have a history of going to the tournament."

"We had a great year winning 31 games," Testo added.  "You can't judge an entire season on just one day."

(Courtesy Southern Maine Sports Information)