WINTER HAVEN, Florida 3/16/11 – Led by senior Bobby Doyon's (Keene, N.H.) sixth-inning, two-run homerun, the Keene State College baseball team came back to defeat Oneonta State 6-2 on Wednesday afternoon at the Chain of Lakes field.

"The Oneonta pitcher did a nice job at the beginning of the game," said KSC head coach Ken Howe. "As the game went on we started to work the counts better and got some better at bats."

Four Owls pitchers combined to allow just two runs, both unearned, to keep Keene State in the game. "I thought all of our guys pitched as expected," said Howe. "We had some injuries in our staff so we had to script out how it was going to go today and it worked out."

Red Dragon third baseman Michael DeCarr (Syracuse, N.Y.) started the scoring in the top half of the sixth inning with an RBI single to put Oneonta up 1-0.

The Owls answered right back in the bottom half, as sophomore Greg Bates (Salem, N.H.) doubled to left-center field and advanced on a fielder's choice. Doyon then stepped up to the plate and hit his team-leading second homerun of the season. "That was the first real mistake the Oneonta pitcher made," said Howe. "He hung a changeup to Bobby and he deposited it to the tall grass."

In the bottom half of the seventh, KSC added four more runs to their lead. Junior designated-hitter Larry Longo (Londonderry, N.H.) crushed his first-career homerun to lead off the inning and give the Owls a 3-1 lead. "As a whole I think we put in more quality at-bats and worked the count better later in the game," said Longo. "We saw better pitches and we took advantage and hit those pitches."

Sophomore Brian Finnegan (Londonderry, N.H.) picked up his first career RBI with a single to right field scoring junior first baseman Dan Arsenault (Hot Springs, Arkansas). The final two runs came in the same inning, when the Oneonta second baseman made an error on a groundball by Doyon, scoring Finnegan and freshman utility infielder Nick Vita (Spofford, N.H.).

Junior Tim Thiesing (Grafton, Mass.) got the start for the Owls, going three innings allowing just three hits and no runs with three strikeouts. Sophomore Adam Stanclift (Keene, N.H.) pitched the next two innings, allowing just an unearned run and striking out two while picking up his second victory of the season. Sophomores Joe Katin (Byefield, Mass.) and Kyle Underwood (Campton, N.H.) combined to go the final three innings allowing just two hits  and striking out two to close out the game for the Owls.

Red dragon starter Ken Smith (Ossining, N.Y.) went six innings allowing seven hits and four runs while striking out five in the losing effort.

Vita and Longo were the only Owls to collect multiple hits with two apiece.

The Owls return to action tomorrow afternoon as they will face regional opponent Salem State at 4 p.m.