WALTHAM, MASS. 4/21/07--- Keene State College swept a Little East Conference doubleheader against UMass-Boston at Yetten Field in Waltham, Mass. on Saturday. 

John Grainger's (Keene, N.H.) sacrifice fly to deep left scored Ben Fournier (Center Harbor, N.H.) with the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning as the Owls took the first game 3-2.  KSC knocked around Nick Conway, the 2006 LEC pitcher of the year, in a 12-5 victory in the nightcap.

  Winners of 10 of their last 12 games, the Owls improve to 19-9 (6-1 LEC), one win shy of their sixth 20-win or better season in Division III.  UMB drops to 10-13 (1-7 LEC).

In the opener, Jeff Perkins (Dunbarton, N.H.) broke a 1-1 tie with an RBI double to score Fournier, who had singled and stole second. 

The Beacons tied the game on an error with two outs in the ninth.  Fournier was the catalyst in the deciding 10th inning.  The junior outfielder led off with a single, moved to second on a hit by James Chevalier (Amherst, N.H.), and moved to third on a walk to Joe Rousseau (Nashua, N.H.). 

Chevalier pitched the ninth and 10th innings to pick up the win.  With runners on first and second he got a fly out to center for the final out.  He struck out four to improve his record to  2-1. 

Starter, Rick Stromgren (Keene, N.H.) gave KSC eight strong innings. He gave up one run on three hits with eight strikeouts and no walks.

Down 2-0 in the second game, the Owls went to work scoring four in the fourth.  Grainger had a key two-run single in the inning.

Leading 4-3, KSC put the game a way with five more runs in the seventh.  Ryan Jones (Nashua, N.H.), Grainger, and Rousseau had run-producing hits in the uprising that put the owls up 9-3.  Chevalier has a two-run double and Jones added a RBI single in the eighth.

Chevalier and Grainger finished the game with three RBIs.

Owl starter Phil Mabey (Williamstown, Mass.) pitched five innings to get the win (2-1).  He gave up three runs on six hits with five Ks and two walks.  Mike Cook (Dover, Mass.), Rob Delbuono (Trumbull, Conn.), and Dan Martin (Cromwell, Conn.) also saw action on the mound.

Keene State plays at Plymouth State on Sunday (2 p.m.).