WINTERHAVEN, Florida 3/19/11 – The Keene State College baseball team is returning from Florida with one of their best spring trips ever, as Junior first-baseman Dan Arsenault's (Hot Springs, Arkansas) RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Owls to a 6-5 victory over Roger Williams University on Saturday afternoon at the Chain of Lakes Field. KSC, who concludes their Florida trip 7-1, are 8-2 overall on the young season, while Roger Williams drops to 4-7 on the year.
"I remember one year coming back from Arizona at 9-3,"said KSC head coach Ken Howe. "But I am very pleased with what we accomplished down here. We got good pitching, timely hitting and our defense got better everyday which is what you look for in a spring trip."
After RWU tied the game in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly from outfielder Tim Georgen (Bristol, Conn.), senior Bobby Doyon (Keene, N.H.) extended his 10-game hit streak with a single to left field in the bottom of the ninth. After a walk, and a hit batter loaded the bases, Arsenault's towering fly ball to centerfield scoring Doyon gave KSC the walk-off win. "Arsenault had some great at-bats early on in the game and hit the ball hard but right at people," said KSC head coach Ken Howe. "It was nice for him to come up in the situation and finally cash in on a hard hit ball."
Once again the Owls used six pitchers to pull off the victory. Senior closer Corey Vogt (Suffield, Conn.) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his second victory of the season. The staff, which got out of three bases-loaded situations during the game, did a nice job of preventing the big inning from Roger Williams. "The guys battled out of jams," said Ken Howe. "It was nice to see guys come in and pitch like we expect them too with runners on base, but we need to limit the walks and hit batters if we are going to be successful."
Roger Williams jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Junior catcher Trevor Manzi's (Beverly, Mass.) RBI ground out and senior first-baseman Zach Porter's (Middleboro, Mass.) sacrifice-fly gave the Hawks the advantage.
KSC touched the plate four times in the bottom of the third. Sophomore leadoff man Greg Bates (Salem, N.H.) ripped an RBI single through the right side of the infield to score freshman second-baseman Nick Vita (Keene, N.H.). Three batters later, junior designated hitter Larry Longo (Londonderry, N.H.) had a two-RBI double scoring Bates and Doyon for the 3-2 lead. The very next batter Erik Bergstrom (Enfield, Conn.) added to KSC's lead with an RBI single to left field for the 4-2 advantage
In the fifth, the Owls pitching again got themselves into a jam with two hit batter and a bunt single to load the bases. Back-to-back RBI groundouts by Roger Williams evened the contest at 4-4.
Bates' RBI single in the bottom of the sixth gave KSC the 5-4 advantage.
Bates and Longo each went two-for-four with a walk and two RBI's. Senior catcher Tyler Diprato (Suffield, Conn.) and junior third baseman Kyle Morrill (Auburn, N.H.) each had two hits as well for the Owls in the victory.
Pitchers Kyle Underwood (Campton, N.H.), Adam Stanclift (Keene, N.H.), Tim Quagliaroli (Windsor Locks, Conn.), Eric Perrault (Salem, N.H.), Dan Wogksch (Bethel, Conn.) and Vogt all saw time on the hill for the Owls.
Sophomore right-hander Josh Orosz (Fairfield, Conn.) went seven innings for the Hawks, allowing five runs with two strikeouts in the no-decision. Junior reliever Chris Comeau (Southbury, Conn.) took the loss going an inning and a third, while allowing one run.
The Owls return home from Florida today, playing next on Wednesday at Springfield College. "We are excited to get home and get some home cooking," said Howe.
