KEENE, N.H. 3/9/08 - Moving cross-town to Keene High School's Alumni Field, Keene State fought back from an early 6-0 deficit to post a 15-9 non-conference baseball victory over Colby-Sawyer College on Wednesday.

            Keene State, ranked ninth in the ABCA poll and 19th in the D3 baseball poll, improves to 14-5.  CSC falls to 7-12.

            "It's nice to play a game in Keene," said KSC Coach Ken Howe.  "I've played a few games here myself and so has the majority of my team.  It brought back some memories."

            KSC played its first two varsity seasons at Alumni Field and returned to play one game against Castleton State, a 2-1 loss, in the 2004 season.

            It didn't appear to be a nice home coming for Howe and the Owls as the Chargers jumped out to a 6-0 lead after 3 ½ innings.  Chris Hartery (Billerica, Mass.) had an RBI single in the first and Chris Gaeta (Lynn, Mass.) hit a two-run home run, his first of the season, in the third.  CSC added three more runs in the top of the third with Brandon McFadden (Dummerston, Vt.) and Lee Chubet (Arlington, Vt.) delivering run producing hits.

            KSC got two runs back in the bottom of the third with Jon Barber (Brattleboro, Vt.) coming through with a two out RBI double.

           Beau Darak (Londonderry, N.H., who finished the game with four RBIs,  had a bases-clearing double and Jeff Perkins (Dunbarton, N.H.) scored two more runs with a double off the center field fence as the Owls plated six more runs in the fifth to take an 8-6 lead.  A five-run sixth inning featured a two-run single by Tyler DiPrato (Suffield, Conn.) and a two-run double by Barber.  Barber, who was filling in for regular third baseman Joe Rousseau, finished the game with two hits and three RBIs.

            "I always like playing on this field, said the Owls freshman third baseman.  I just try to make all the plays and have good at bats.  It was nice to make a contribution."

            It took awhile for the Owl players to adjust to Charger starter Vinny Vilardi.  "We made some adjustments throughout the game,' said Howe.  "There pitcher wasn't as quick as ones we've seen of late, so it took awhile for us to get our timing down.  We were able to capitalize on some mistakes that they made and score some big runs."

            Howe complimented the contribution made by Barber and pitcher Rob Delbuono (Trumbull, Conn.). "Jon is behind a hot-hitting senior third baseman. He's a Brattleboro kid and has played some games in this park and came thought with a couple of big hits for us."

            Delbuono came into the game in the fourth and got KSC out of trouble.  "We needed that from Rob, Howe said. "That was a big point in the game and he was able to come in and shut them down and give us some quality innings that we needed at that point."         

            Kris Ramsey had a solo home run for CSC in the eighth and Greg Ford (Nashua, N.H.) cracked a two run shot, his fourth of the season, in the bottom of the inning.

            The Owls finished the game with 14 hits. Perkins, KSC's lead-off hitter, had four hits and DiPrato had three hits.  Keene High grad Bobby Doyon (Keene, N.H.) had two hits in his return to Alumni Field.

            Colby-Sawyer, which had a tough day in the field with six errors, had 10 hits.  Hartery led the way with three hits.

            Owl starter Aaron Laplante (Charleston, N.H.) struggled during his 3.1 innings of work. He gave up six runs on six hits with walk and a strikeout.  Delbuono, the Owls' third pitcher of the game, got the win to improve his record to 2-0.  He threw 3.1 innings of hitless ball with four strikeouts.

            Vilardi (Boxford, Mass.), now 0-1, took the loss for the Chargers. After pitching effectively in the first three innings, he gave up seven runs on seven hits with four walks and no strikeouts.

            Keene State returns to LEC play on Friday with a doubleheader at Western Conn.  Colby-Sawyer is a t Nichols College for a Commonwealth Coast twinbill on Thursday.