KEENE, N.H. 4/13/10 – Junior Tyler DiPrato (Suffield, Conn.) knocked in the go-ahead in the bottom of the eighth inning and sophomore Kyle Morrill (Auburn, N.H.) threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the top of the ninth in Keene State College's come-from-behind 5-4 Little East Conference baseball win over rival Plymouth State University on Tuesday.

Plymouth State (2-17, 0-5 LEC) scored all four of its runs in the second inning.  Junior Dan Eagan (Norwich, Conn.), senior Steve Picco (Marshfield, Mass.), and sophomore Marcus Joyce (Scituate, Mass.) had RBI hits in the inning for the Panthers.

With Owl runners on the corners, Panther freshman centerfielder, Brendan Cosgrove (Merrimack, N.H.) made a diving catch off the bat of sophomore Greg Bates (Salem, N.H.) to rob KSC of a potential big inning.

Trailing 4-1, the Owls (12-10-1, 3-2) got two runs back in the bottom of the seventh on a pair of Panther errors. KSC scored the tying and game-winning runs in the eighth. 

Junior Bobby Doyon (Keene, N.H.) and senior Anthony Cipolla (Glastonbury, Conn.) opened the inning with a singles.  Doyon stole second, moved to third on fly out, and scored on an error.   Cipolla scored the go-ahead run on a single to left field by DiPrato. “I got down two strikes, he threw me a curve ball and I was able to sit back and hit it up the middle,” said DiPrato. 

Pinch-hitter junior Grant Livingston (Niantic, Conn.) walked to start the ninth for PSU.  Freshman Steve Beard (Middletown, Mass.), who pinch ran for Livingston, went to second on a ground out.  Sophomore Joe Eramo (Shirley, Mass.) followed with a smash up the middle that hit the second base bag.  Morrill, the Owls' shortstop, picked up the ball in short right and fired a strike to KSC catcher Cipolla, who applied the tag to Beard.

“I just ran out, turned around and threw it,” said Morrill.  "I was lucky enough to throw a strike right to Cip.”

“I saw the third base coach send him and I yelled four-four-four and Kyle made an amazing throw,” said Cipolla.  “I made sure I tagged the runner in the chest, so everyone could see it.”

Junior Bryant Lausberg grounded out to the Owl pitcher Cory Vogt (Suffield, Conn.) to end the game.

Doyon finished the game with two hits for the Owls.

Sophomore Mike Cappiello (Westfield, N.J.) and Lausberg each had two hits for the Panthers.

After a rough start, sophomore Jeff Pelkey (Fitzwilliam, N.H.) settled down and pitched five innings for KSC.  Freshman Tim Quagliaroli (Windsor Locks, Conn.) pitched three innings of two-hit ball to pick-up his first win (1-0) of the season. Vogt pitched the ninth and notched his second save.

Lausberg, who allowed three runs on four hits with six strikeouts and two walks, kept Owl batters off-balance in his seven strong innings on the mound.  Sophomore Jonathan Bishop (Woburn, Mass.), who took over in the eighth was the losing pitcher (0-5).

“We've had some strange games the last few days,” said KSC Coach Ken Howe.  Both teams made mistakes defensively.  They capitalized early and we capitalized late and we were lucky enough to come out on top.”

Keene State has won the last 14 games against Plymouth State.

Keene State is at Western New England on Wednesday.  Plymouth State hosts Salem State on Friday. Both games begin at 3:30 p.m.