MANSFIELD, Conn. - Sophomore centerfielder Jeff Perkins (DUNBARTON, NH) scored the game-tying run in the two-run seventh inning and had a two-out, two-run double in the two-run eighth as the second-seeded Keene State College baseball team advanced to the championship round of the Little East Conference Baseball Tournament with a 7-3 win against the University of Southern Maine in an elimination game Friday night at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.
 

The Owls (28-12/3-1) play top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University (33-9/3-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday. If Keene State defeats Eastern, there will be a winner-take-all final at approximately 5 p.m. The Little East Conference Baseball Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to NCAA Division III  baseball tournament. Keene State College defeated UMass Boston 11-6 in its first of two elimination games Friday night.
 

The Huskies (27-15/2-2) lost to Eastern Connecticut 16-5 in a winners' bracket game and were eliminated by Keene State later in the evening.
 

Keene State College turned a one-run deficit into a 4-3 lead with a two-run seventh. Perkins scored on a throwing error by senior catcher Max Arsenault (BOOTHBAY, ME) and sophomore second baseman James Chevalier (AMHERST, MA) scored the go-ahead run on sophomore right-hander Tim Therrian's (NEW PORTLAND, ME) wild pitch.
 

The Owls increased their lead to 7-3 with two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth. Perkins' two-run double to left center scored freshman pitch-hitter Anthony Cipolla (GLASTONBURY, CT) and junior left fielder Ben Fournier (CENTER HARBOR, NH). Freshman first baseman Beau Darak (LONDONDERRY, NH) had a ninth-inning RBI double to the left-center field gap. Darak hit a solo home run to left center in the sixth, his fifth of the season.
 

Southern Maine broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth on an unearned run. Freshman first baseman Colin Henry (PENOBSCOT, ME) walked, advanced to second on a fielder's choice, stole third and scored on Keene State College junior third baseman Joe Rousseau's (NASHUA, NH) error. Rousseau bobbled senior shortstop Nick Vardaro's (NORWOOD, MA) grounder and threw late to first.
 

The Huskies went ahead 2-1 in the fifth on Arsenault's fielder's choice scoring senior second baseman Pat Kinslow (WESTBROOK, ME). Kinslow went 2-for-3.
 

Keene State College freshman right-hander Ben Sonberg (BOW, NH) recorded the win with 4 2/3 innings of one-hit, one-run relief. Sonberg (3-1) walked one and struck out five.
 

Southern Maine senior right-hander Pat Foley (NORWOOD, MA), in relief of freshman left-hander starter Mark Schmidt (GORHAM, ME) faced one batter and allowed the seventh-inning single to Chevalier, who scored the go-ahead run. It was Foley's first loss of the season (6-1).