KEENE, N.H. 4/15/10 – Senior Jesse Cahill (Cranston, R.I.) went three-for-five and drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Keene State baseball team to a 5-4 non-conference victory over Westfield State in Keene on Thursday.

            Keene State improves to 13-11-1.  Westfield State drops to 16-7.

            Westfield jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on RBI singles by senior Kevin Lyons (Braintree, Mass.) and sophomore Matt Kelly (Weymouth, Mass.).

            Keene State went up 3-2 in the bottom of the second with sophomores Kyle Morrill (Auburn, N.H.) and Greg Bates (Salem, N.H.) knocking in runs with RBI doubles.

            An RBI single by Kelly tied the score (3-3) in the top of the third.

             Westfield's defense kept Keene State off the board in the bottom of the sixth inning.  With runners on first and second, Morril singled to left. WSC leftfielder Mike Trachtenberg relayed the ball to third baseman Kelly, who threw a strike to freshman catcher Andrew Medeiros (Acushnet, Mass.), who tagged KSC sophomore Cody Callahan (Seekonk, Mass.) out at home.  KSC loaded the bases again, but Westfield got out of the jam on a 1-2-3 double play started by junior pitcher Sean Keane (Brockton, Mass.).

            Westfield took the lead 4-3 on the top of the seventh on a two-out RBI double by Lyons.  KSC got the run right back in the bottom of the inning on a RBI single to left by senior Keith Patnode (Keene, N.H.).

            Keene State won the game in the bottom of the ninth.  With one out, Patnode doubled to left field.  Following an intentional walk to junior Peter Burgio (Bolton, Conn.) and a pop out by Callahan, Cahill ripped a ground ball down the third base line to score Patnode with the game-winning run.   "I was just looking to get the ball into the outfield," said Cahill.  "I got a fastball and fortunately I was able to get it through. We've been scrambling of late, so this is a big win for us.”

            Keene State finished the game with 16 hits.  Junior Bobby Doyon (Keene, N.H.), senior Anthony Cipolla (Glastonbury, Conn.), Patnode, Bates, and Morrill each had two hits.

            Lyons went three-for-three at the plate for Westfield.

            After a rough start, senior Mike Riley (East Hartford, Conn.) settled down and pitched 6.2 innings for KSC. He gave up four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks.  Sophomore Tim Thiesing (South Grafton, Mass.) tossed 1.1 innings of one hit ball and sophomore Dan Wogksch (Bethel, Conn.) retired the side in the ninth inning to get the win. He is 2-0 on the season.

            Freshman Matt McDougall (Milton, Mass.), the third pitcher used by Westfield, took the loss.

            Keene State hosts Colby-Sawyer on Friday (3:30 p.m.).