GORHAM, MAINE 5/8/09 - The third seeded Keene State College baseball team stayed alive in the Little East Conference Tournament with a 9-6 victory over fourth seed UMass-Boston on Friday afternoon.

            For the second year in a row, the Owls (23-15) must come out of the loser's bracket to claim the title.  KSC, which used the same formula to win its first LEC championship last season, will play the loser of the game between top seed Southern Maine and second seed Eastern Conn. later this afternoon. 

            KSC jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Beacons in the first inning.  Jamie Chevalier (Amherst, N.H.) took the first pitch he saw against UMB pitcher Mike Andriano over the left field fence for his first home run of the season. Tyler DiPrato (Suffield, Conn.) brought home Anthony Cipolla (Glastonbury, Conn.) with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. 

            The Beacons came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning, Mark McCormack came home on a fielder's choice and Eric Salvador tied the game with an RBI single. 

            The Beacons took the lead in the second.  Drew Tambling opened in the inning with a triple and came home on a RBI single up the middle by Jim Albano.

            UMB had a runner cut down at the plate in the bottom of the third. Dan Noonan opened the inning with a single.  He tried to score on a double to left, but he was gunned down at the plate on a fine relay that went from DiPrato in left to Chevalier at short to Cipolla, who blocked the dish and tagged out Noonan.

            "I was faking the runner, pretending I was getting the throw," said Cipolla. "I moved him off the line, so I knew he wasn't going to get the plate.  I got the ball and tagged him and it wasn't even close."  

            In the fourth KSC strung together five straight hits to take a 6-3 lead., A single through the box by Kyle Morrill (Auburn, N.H.) scored Keith Patnode (Keene, N.H.)  to tie the game at 3-all.  Jeff Perkins (Dunbarton, N.H.) followed with an RBI single to left to give the Owls a 4-3 lead. Cipolla brought in another run with a sacrifice fly and Bobby Doyon drove in another run with a lined drive to left.

            Patnode belted his second home run of the tournament and ninth of the season in the fifth to put KSC up 7-3.  "We knew we had to come out swinging," Patnode said.  "Our offense has carried us all season and we did it again today."

            Eric Salvador made it a two-run ball game (7-5) with a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning.

            KSC manufactured an insurance run in the seventh.  Perkins led off with a walk; he was sacrificed to second and came home on consecutive passed balls.

            The runs would prove to be crucial as UMB got a run in the bottom of the inning on a RBI double by Tambling.  The Beacons put runners on second and third but freshman reliever Tim Thiesing (South Grafton, Mass.) got Ty Buccetti swinging and McCormack to ground out to first.

            Morrill gave KSC some breathing room in the ninth with a RBI single to left center to put them up 9-6

            Freshman pitcher Dan Wogksch (Bethel, Conn.) came in to nail down the win and his second save in the ninth. With UMB runners on first and second, Wogksch fanned Tim Fontaine and Jeff Outzen grounded out to third to end the game.

            Freshman Jeff Pelkey (Fitzwilliam, N.H.) went the first seven innings to pick up the win (6-1).  "It wasn't my best performance, but the guys backed me up and made some big plays in the field for me and gave some run support," he said.  

.           Doyon and Patnode each had three his to lead Keene State's 16 hit attack.  Chevalier, Cipolla, and Morrill chipped in with two hits a piece.

            Salvador had three hits and three RBIs for the Beacons.  Andriano took the loss (2-4) for UMass-Boston, which concludes its season with a 19-22 record.

            The day began early for the Owls, who had to resume their suspended first-round game against Eastern Conn.

            The game was picked up with the Warrior's leading 6-3 after seven.

            The Owls went down in order in the top of the eighth, but ECSU added an insurance run when Jim Schult took a delivery by Owl pitcher Rob Delbuono (Trumbull, Conn.) over the left field fence.

            Keith Patnode (Keene, N.H.) led off the ninth with a single up the middle. Kyle Morrill (Auburn, N.H.) and Cody Callahan (Seekonk, Mass.) went down swinging, and Beau Darak (Londonderry, N.H.) grounded out to second to end the game.

            Jeff Raymond (Amston, Conn.) who started the game for KSC on Thursday took the loss (4-2).

           Matt Fontaine improved his record to 6-1 with the win.  Wes Dutton pitched the final two innings and notched the save.