KEENE, N.H. 4/28/09 - The Keene State baseball team scored
five runs in the fourth inning on the way to a 10-3 non-conference
victory over St. Joseph's College of Maine at windy Owl Athletic
Complex on Tuesday afternoon.
The Owls, who complete their regular season with a 21-14 record,
will be the third seed in the upcoming Little East Tournament and
host sixth seed UMass-Dartmouth in a double-header on Saturday (12
p.m.). If a third game is needed, it will be played Sunday at
1 p.m.
Junior Rob Delbuono (Trumbull, Conn.) picked up
the win (1-2) in his first career start for the Owls. He
pitched five innings, giving up two runs on three hits with four
strikeouts and one walk. Sophomore Ed Lacourse (Manchester,
N.H.), freshman Tim Thiesing (South Grafton, Mass.), and Dan
Wogksch (Bethel, Conn.) also saw action on the mound.
Junior Chris Nanof (Clinton, Mass.) pitched the first five
innings for the Monks and took the loss (2-4). He allowed seven
runs on nine hits with one strikeout and one walk.
Keene State took a 1-0 lead in the third. Freshman Kyle
Morrill (Auburn, N.H.) doubled and came home on a single
through the right side by senior Jamie Chevalier
(Amherst, N.H.).
The Monks (28-13) went up 2-1 in the top of the fourth inning on
a two-run double by junior Pat Moran (Winterport, Me.).
The Owls broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of the
inning to go up 6-2. Freshman Cody Callahan
(Seekonk, Mass.), and junior Anthony Cipolla
(Glastonbury, Conn.) had run-producing hits. KSC added single
runs in the fifth and seventh innings. Senior Beau
Darak (Londonderry, N.H.) had a RBI double in the fifth
and junior Keith Patnode (Keene, N.H.) brought in
another run with a single though the right side in the
seventh. Junior Tyler DiPrato (Suffield,
Conn.) had a two run single in the bottom of the eighth inning.
DiPrato finished the game with three hits and two RBIs while
senior Jeff Perkins (Dunbarton, N.H.), Cipolla,
Callahan, and Darak each collected two hits.
Junior Ben Grant-Roy (Biddeford, Me) and sophomore Ian Lee
(Hampden, Me.) had two hits each for the Monks.
The wind picked in the middle innings, making each fly ball and
adventure. "I've never seen it like this," said Perkins, the
Owls' centerfielder. "It's been a crazy windy day. The
key is not to let the ball play you. Pick a spot and spring
to it and don't get lazy."
KSC will now prepare for the Corsairs this weekend.
"UMass-Dartmouth is next on our plate," said KSC Coach Ken Howe.
"They beat us twice earlier this season. They get to come to our
place now and hopefully we play good baseball."
"We're looking for some redemption," said Perkins. "They
took two from us early when we were still trying to develop our
offense, so we're looking forward to playing them again."
