FARMINGDALE, N.Y 3/2/12 – The Keene State College baseball team dropped its season opener to Farmingdale (N.Y.) State College 7-2 at the St. Joseph's College Tournament in Long Island on Friday night.  The tournament was moved to Farmingdale State due to an unplayable field at St. Joseph's College.

Sophomore Nick Vita (Spofford, N.H.) had two of the Owls four hits in the game, both singles.  Senior Peter Burgio (Bolton, Conn.) had a seeing-eye single in the fourth and sophomore Matt Boulay (Stafford Springs, Conn.) had a bloop single over second in the eighth inning.

"We couldn't get anything going at the plate," said KSC Coach Ken Howe.  "Their starting pitcher wasn't overpowering, but kept us off-balance. Hopefully, things will turn around for us tomorrow."   

Runs were hard to come by in the first three innings.  The Owls pushed across a run in the top of the fourth.   Junior Greg Bates (Salem, N.H.) reached on an error, moved to third on Burgio's hit-and-run single, and scored on a double play.

The Rams answered with two runs in fifth on a two-single by freshman Anthony Alvino.  They added one more run in the sixth and two more in the seventh to go up 5-1.

The Owls loaded the bases in the top of the eighth, but got just run home on a sacrifice fly from freshman Chuck Vogt (Windsor Locks, Conn.).

Farmingdale (3-4), who went to the NCAA regionals last spring, picked up two more run in the bottom of the inning.

The Owls also struggled in the field, committing three errors.

Junior Eric Perrault (Salem, N.H.) got the start for Keene State.  Then lefty went five innings, allowing two runs on three hits with five strikeouts and four walks.  Senior Kyle O'Brien (Springfield, N.H.) and sophomore Shawn Egan (East Hartford, Conn.) also pitched for the Owls.

Junior Anthony Eilers had a strong outing on the mound for the Rams, giving up just one run on two hits while fanning nine and issuing a walk in his six innings of work.

Keene State plays MIT on Saturday (4 p.m.).