KEENE, N.H.  4/18/09 - Nationally ranked Eastern Connecticut State University handed host Keene State College a pair of Little East Conference losses on Saturday.

The Warriors (24-6, 8-3 LEC) rallied for four runs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat the Owls 6-4 in the first game and came back to post a 16-5 win in a seven inning second game.

Keene State drops to 15-12 (4-6 LEC).

In the opener, Eastern took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on a two-run home run by sophomore Jim Schult (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.).

KSC got one run back in the fourth. Senior Jamie Chevalier (Amherst, N.H.) opened the inning with a double and scored on single by sophomore Bobby Doyon (Keene, N.H.).

The Owls scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to go up 4-2.  Chevalier had a two-run triple and later scored on an error.

In the ninth, senior Tristan Hobbes (Utica, N.Y.) had an RBI double to make it 4-3.  With two outs, and the bases loaded, junior John Parke (Middlefield, Conn.) connected on a bases clearing double to put the Warriors up 6-4.

Chevalier had three of the Owls' seven hits in the game.

Senior Shawn Gilblair (Windham, Conn.), Parke, Schult, and Hobbes each had two hits for ECSU.

Gilblair started for the Warriors.  He went seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts and three walks.  Senior James Kukucka (Vernon, Conn.) tossed two innings of hitless ball with one strikeout over the last two innings to pick up the win (2-1).

Junior Jeff Raymond (Amston, Conn.) took the loss (2-1) for the Owls.  He pitched 8.2 innings, giving up six runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

In the nightcap the Owls scored four runs in the second to go up 5-1, senior Jeff Perkins (Dunbarton, N.H.) had an RBI double and Doyon blasted a three-run home run, his sixth round-tripper of the season.

Sophomore Robert Perry (Manchester, Conn.) and Junior Joe Cousineau (Newington, Conn.) had run-producing doubles as the Warriors cut the Owls' lead to 5-4 in the third.

Warriors took the lead for good with two runs in the fourth on RBI hits from Gilblair and double by Hobbe. Eastern broke the game open with a 10 run fifth inning.  Perry and Schult each drove in two runs,   Gilblair had a two-run double, Cousineau had a two-run double, sophomore Chris Cannata (Southington, Conn.) had an RBI triple and Parke had a RBI double.

Doyon knocked in four of the Owls five runs.

Parke, Schult, Perry, and Couineau each had three RBIs for the Warriors.

Junior Mike Riley (East Hartford, Conn.) the first of the Owls' five pitchers took the loss (1-2).   Junior Mike Tingley (Rockville, Conn.), who took over for Warrior starter junior Will Musson (Wethersfield, Conn.) in the second go the win (2-0). He tossed 5.1 innings of two-hit ball with five strikeouts and two walks.

Keene State returns to the Complex on Sunday for games against UMass-Boston and Wheaton College. Eastern is at Trinity on Tuesday.