MANSFIELD, Conn. - Tournament Most Outstanding Player Shawn Gilblair (WINDHAM, CT) had a two-out walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth inning and top-seeded and No. 11 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University won its sixth Little East Conference Baseball Tournament championship by defeating second-seeded Keene State College 4-3 Saturday night at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

As the Little East Conference baseball champion, the Warriors (34-10/4-1) received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament beginning Wednesday.
Eastern Connecticut State University has won the LEC tournament championship in each of the six times it has reached the championship round (1998, 2001, '03, '04, '06 and '07).

The Warriors, the first undefeated baseball team in Little East Conference regular-season history (14-0), had their 21-game winning streak against conference opponents end with a 6-3 loss to Keene State College (29-13) in the championship round earlier this afternoon, setting the stage for the final winner-take-all title game.

Eastern senior left fielder Eric O'Toole (WATERBURY, CT) led off the ninth inning of the championship game with a single to right, went to second on a junior right fielder Ismael Bolorin's  (MANCHESTER, CT) sacrifice bunt,  and scored the game-winning run on Gilblair's two-out single to right on an 1-2 pitch. O'Toole scored on a head-first slide ahead of the throw from junior rightfielder Greg Ford (Nashua, NH) to give the Warriors their second straight championship.

Gilblair, the 2006 Little East Conference Baseball Most Outstanding Player, went 11-for-19 (.579 average) with six runs, one double, two home runs, 12 RBIs, two walks and one hit-by-pitch and threw a complete game in the tournament. He allowed two runs (one earned) on eight hits and struck out five in Eastern's 10-2 second-round win over Rhode Island College  Thursday.

With the score tied, the Owls had prime scoring opportunities in the eighth and ninth innings of the title game, but the Warriors responded defensivley. In the eighth, sophomore second baseman James Chevalier (AMHERST, NH) had a leadoff double and went to third on a sacrifice bunt. Winning pitcher Jason LaVorgna (NORTH HAVEN, CT) pitched out on a 1-1 count to Ford. Senior catcher Matt Cooney (ARLINGTON, MA) took a couple of steps toward third and threw to junior third baseman Trey Bongiovanni (MERIDEN, CT), who applied the diving tag to Chevalier for the second out of the inning.

In the ninth, junior shortstop Ryan Jones (NASHUA, NH) drilled a one-out triple to the right-center field gap. Senior second baseman Peter Hall (DANIELSON, CT) then lifted a fly ball to medium right. Bolorin gathered it in for the second out, and his throw reached Cooney on the fly well ahead of Jones, who was tagged out easily to complete the double play.
 

Trailing 3-1, Eastern tied the game on senior center fielder Randy Re's (DANBURY, CT) two-run home run to right field, scoring Bongiovanni ahead of him. Bongiovanni had ignited the game-tying rally by legging out a swinging bunt to third.game
It was Re's sixth homer of the season, third of the tournament, and 21st of his career.

The momentum of the game clearly changed for Eastern, thanks to the middle relief pitching of sophomore right-handed pitcher James Kukucka (VERNON, CT). Kukucka was dominant in his first appearance of the tournament. He took over for starter Mike Tingley (ROCKVILLE, CT) with a runner aboard in the fourth and retired ten straight before Hall reached on an error with one out game tied in the  seventh. A sacrifice bunt moved the go-ahead run to second, but Kukucka ended the threat with a fly ball to center. Kuckucka pitched four hitless innings with three strikeouts before giving way to LaVorgna  to start the eight with the score tied 3-3.

After forcing the final game with the first-game win, Keene State College led 3-0 in the first on Ford's two-out RBI single up the middle and freshman first baseman Beau Darak's (LONDONDERRY, NH) two-out, two-run single to the right side.

The Warriors scored their first run of the game  when O'Toole, batting ninth, plated sophomore DH Tristan Hobbes (UTICA, NY) from third with a sacrifice fly. Hobbes had singled to open the inning and moved to third on junior second baseman Zack Thomas' (EAST HADDAM, CT) double to left.

Beaten twice by Eastern in the 2006 championship round, Keene was looking to turn the tables this year. After losing a second-round decision to third-seeded Keene State College Thursday night, the Owls remained alive by eliminating UMass Boston and Southern Maine Friday, then knocked off the Warriors Saturday afternoon to move to within one win of their first LEC title and NCAA tournament berth.

Keene remains in contention for an NCAA berth when bids are extended Sunday.

Chevalier was a tournament MVP candidate, if the Owls had pulled out the second-game win. In six games, he reached safely 17 times with ten hits (four doubles, two home runs, and one triple) in 21 at-bats (.476), six walks and one hit-by-pitch. He scored 12 runs and drove in five. As a pitcher, he appeared in three game with a save and pitched  3 1/3 innings in the title game, allowing four hits and one run and earning the loss. At second base, he handled 33 chances with two errors.