FARMINGDALE, N.Y 3/4/12 – The Keene State College baseball team wrapped up play at the St. Joseph's College of Long Island tournament with a 8-4 victory over the host Golden Eagles in Farmingdale, N.Y. on Sunday. 

After dropping their season opener to Farmingdale State (7-2), the Owls (2-1) won their last two games of the tournament, defeating MIT (6-2) on Saturday and St. Joseph's College (7-2) on Sunday.

"It was nice to see the guys bounce back with a couple of wins after losing the opener," said KSC Coach Ken Howe.  "We brought a lot of our young players on the trip and they got an opportunity to play.  They made some mistakes, but they also made some big plays which bode well for the future."

For the second game in a row, Keene State got a solid start on the mound.  Junior Chris Crutcher (Londonderry, N.H.) allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits over seven innings to pick up the win.  He fanned one and didn't allow a walk. "Crutcher threw strikes and settled down after a rocky start," said Howe.

Howe gave his bullpen a little work with senior Nick Winn (West Hartford, Conn.), sophomore Pat Tempone (Francestown, N.H.) and junior Tim Quagliaroli also seeing action.

Howe's line-up, which included six freshmen, produced 11 hits.  Freshman Tyler Estevez (East Hartford, Conn.) led the hit parade with three hits. 

The owls jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on a RBI double to the gap in left center by senior Peter Burgio (Bolton, Conn.).

After St. Joseph's came back with two run in the bottom of the inning, Keene State took the lead for good, plating four runs in the second inning.  KSC produced their runs on a couple of hits, three walks and a couple of errors.  Estevez poked a single in front of the Golden Eagles' right fielder to bring in one run.  Freshman Howie Dietch (Orange, Conn.) walked with the bases load and sophomore Nick Vita (Spofford, N.H.) had a sacrifice fly.  Dietch came around to score on an error.

St. Joseph's College (1-2) chipped away getting single runs in the third and fourth innings to make it a one-run game 5-4.

Keene State got one run in the top of the fifth inning on a RBI double by freshman Eric Hewitt (Rockfall, Conn.) The Owls got their final two runs in the seventh.  With two out Tanner Chase (York, Me.) had a single up the middle to knock in a run and Dietch singled between first and second base to bring in the final run.

Burgio had two hits while junior Greg Bates (Salem, N.H.) and Hewitt each scored two runs.  KSC also stole three bases, giving them seven in its first three games.

Keene State now gets ready for its spring week trip to Winter Haven, Fla., which begins with a game against Aurora (Ill.) College on Friday, March 9.