MANSFIELD, Conn. 5/12/11 - Junior righty Jeff Pelkey (Fitzwilliam, NH) allowed only one run in five innings as the fourth-seeded Keene State College scored five runs in its first two at-bats in a 9-3 win over  fifth-seeded University of Southern Maine Thursday night at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

With its second tournament win, Keene State (29-12) moves into finals of the winners' bracket Friday at noon against sixth-seeded Rhode Island College (19-18) in a battle of the only remaining unbeaten teams in the original field of six in this double-elimination tournament. That winner advances to the championship round beginning Saturday at noon, having two tries to win a game to gain the conference title. "We like where we are right now," said KSC head coach Ken Howe. "The goal is to not play twice tomorrow. If we win, we can let the other teams beat each other and wait until Saturday, but Rhode Island is a good team."

The Owls and Anchormen split their regular season doubleheader down in Providence way back on April 2nd. RIC junior hurler Rob Rushton, who shut down KSC by going 7.1 innings and allowed only two runs with four strikeouts, is likely to get the ball tomorrow because he has not yet pitched in the tournament. "Rushton shut us down," said Howe. "That was a long time ago though, and we will just have to do better the second time around."

Pelkey departed from the game after giving up seven hits and fanning three without a walk and owning a 9-1 lead to improve his record to 7-0 this season. The seventh victory ties KSC's single-season record set by Dan Nelson in 2010. "It feels good to have the record," said Pelkey. "It makes the record more important to me because it comes in the LEC tournament and we stay in the winner's bracket."

Keene, which has outscored two tournament opponents by a 21-3 margin, got into Southern Maine's bullpen early by scoring five runs in its first two at-bats. Senior Tyler DiPrato (Suffield, CT) and junior Erik Bergstrom (Enfield, CT) stroked run-scoring doubles and junior Juan Bisono (New Britain, CT) an RBI single to make it 3-0 in the first, and the Owls added two more in the second on  a sacrifice fly by sophomore Greg Bates (Salem, NH) and senior Bobby Doyon's  (Keene, NH) ninth home run of the year.

Bergstrom led Keene with three hits and scored twice and Bates, DiPrato, Bisono and junior Kyle Morrill (Auburn, NH) each added to KSC's 12 hit attack. Southern Maine out-hit Keene by one but the Owl's four pitchers walked only one, while Southern Maine's six pitchers combined for seven walks.

Senior Mike Eaton (Sabattus, ME) had two hits and two RBI for Southern Maine, which must come through the losers' bracket in its quest for a first LEC tournament title since 1999.

The Owls, for the second night in a row, also got it done on the base-path. Stealing four bases in five attempts in the win and going a perfect eight-for-eight in last night's victory, KSC is adding another dimension to their potent offense. "We are getting good pitches and good situations to run in," said Howe. "We are not a slow team by any means, we are just taking what the other team gives us."

The Owls and Anchormen, who have the first game Friday at noon, each have one tournament title in program history. The Owls won their lone crown in 2008, while RIC topped the conference field in 2005.