KEENE, N.H. 5/10/08 - Top seed Keene State made sure it would be playing in a winner-take-all championship game in the Little East Conference baseball tournament by routing third seed University of Southern Maine 21-10 in Game #10 of the tournament on Saturday.  That sets up a second game between the Owls and the Huskies that will decide the LEC championship later today.

            KSC (32-9) is looking for its first conference title while USM (32-11) its fourth championship and first since 2001.

            The Owls sprayed 26 hits around Owl Athletic Complex, two shy of the school. Everyone in the starting line-up had at least one hit, including senior right fielder Greg Ford (Nashua, N.H.) who had four hits and four RBIs and sophomore catcher Anthony Cipolla (Glastonbury, Conn.) chipped in with four RBIs.  Owl starter Jaime Chevalier (Amherst, Mass.) helped himself at the plate with three hits and two RBIs.  

            Making a rare start for KSC,  Chevalier, the Owls' starting second baseman, give his team six strong innings to pick up the win and improve his record to 4-3. He gave up two runs on five hits with three strikeouts and a walk.

            The Owls, the away team in the game, didn't waste anytime getting on the board, scoring four runs in the top of the first.  Cipolla knocked in a pair of runs with a double and Ford had a RBI single to center.

            With one out, USM made a quick pitching change with freshman Nick Hahn (Guilford, Conn.) taking over for starter sophomore Joe Curran (Arlington, Mass.).

 Chevalier helped his own cause at the plate when he brought in a couple of runs on an error by the Husky shortstop. Freshman leftfielder Bobby Doyon (Keener, N.H.) followed with a two-run single and Doyon came home on a RBI single by Ford to make it 8-0.

            In the third, Chevalier had an RBI double to make it a 9-0 game.

            Ford cracked a solo home run, his 12th of the season, in the top of the fourth.

            A seven-run sixth inning by the Owls included a two-run double by Ford and run-producing single by junior centerfielder Jeff Perkins (Dunbarton, N.H.).

            USM center fielder Ryan Pike (Saco, Me.), who had two of USM's seven hits, hit a home run, his eighth of the season in the bottom of the sixth.

            Freshman Ed Lacourse (Manchester, N.H.) followed Chevalier to the mound and pitched two-hit ball for three innings with four strikeouts.

            Curran took the loss for the Huskies, who used seven pitchers.

            USM defeated KSC 8-4 in Game #7 on Friday.