MESA, AZ. 3/15/09  - The Keene State baseball team split a pair of seven inning games against Brockport (N.Y) State at Westwood High School in Mesa Arizona on Sunday.

            The Owls, 2-2 on their trip, won the first game 13-4 and lost the nightcap 11-4 to the Golden Eagles.

            Keene State used the big inning to win the opener.  Trailing 3-2, the Owls scored six runs in the fourth and five more runs in the sixth.  Freshman Cody Callahan (Seekonk, Mass.) belted a two run home run and junior Anthony Cipolla (Glastonbury, Conn.) had a three-run double in the fourth.  Callahan hit a three-run shot, his second of the day and third of the trip in the sixth and senior Jamie Chevalier (Amherst, N.H.) added an RBI double in the sixth.

            The Owls collected 14 hits in the game.  Callahan led the way with three hits and five RBIs.  Senior Beau Darak (Londonderry, N.H.) had three hits, and sophomore Tyler DiPrato (Suffield, Conn.), Chevalier, and Cipolla finished the game with two hits each.

            Getting the start, junior Mike Riley (East Hartford, Conn.) picked up the win for the Owls.  He went five and a third innings, giving up four earned run on six hits with one strikeout and three walks.

            The Owls took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the second game after senior Jeff Perkins (Dunbarton, N.H.) led off with a single, stole second, and came home on an error.

            The Golden Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the inning on a three-run home run by Jamie Rose.  Brockport added two more runs in the third and fourth innings to go up 7-1.

            The Owls got one-run back in the fifth on a RBI single by Chevalier, but the Golden Eagles put the game  a way with four more runs in the bottom of the frame.

            Sophomore Bobby Doyon (Keene, N.H.) accounted for the final two Owls runs with a two-run home run in the seventh inning.

            With starting third baseman sophomore Jon Barber (Brattleboro, Vt.)  not available after tweaking his ankle in the opener, a make shift Owl infield committed four errors in the second game.  "We're still moving people around and trying to find the right combination," said KSC Coach Ken Howe.  We have a big game tomorrow against Johns Hopkins, so hopefully, we can straighten things out."

            Callahan continued to impress at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two doubles.  Perkins and freshman Larry Longo (Londonderry, N.H.), who was making his first start at first base, each had two hits.

             Making his first start for KSC, freshman Eric Perrault (Salem, N.H.) took the loss.