LEESBURG, Fla.--The Keene State College baseball team committed six errors in a 6-4 loss to No. 11 Wheaton College (Mass.) on Saturday.  The Owls are now 1-2 on the young season.

Cody Dube took the loss on the hill for Keene State, allowing five hits and six runs (three unearned) in four innings of work.  Julian Haddad and Alex Fiste combined for five innings of relief work, allowing just two hits.  

The KSC offense was paced by Tanner Chase, who was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs, and Nick Vita, who batted 2-for-4, scoring once and driving in a run.  The Owls outhit the Lyons 8-7, but were undone by their defense.

Wheaton put three unearned runs on the board in the top of the third inning.  Tyler Contillo and Mike Beneduce reached on consecutive errors to open the inning, but Contillo was cut down at third base on a fielder's choice.  Dube struck out Apolinar De La Cruz on a full count, but Mike Bisceglia's double to center brought in two runs, and Bisceglia would later score on the third KSC error of the inning.

The Owls hit back immediately in the bottom half.  Matt Boulay led off with a single, and took second on a single through the right side by Chase.  A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third, followed by Joe Libby's walk to load the bases.  Billy Hartmann drew another walk to force in the first Owls run of the game, and Vita's fielder's choice to third brought in Chase to cut the lead to 3-2.

The Lyons tacked on three more runs in the fourth inning, with an RBI single by Matt Lavanchy and a 2-RBI single up the middle off the bat of De La Cruz.

KSC pulled one back in the bottom of the fifth inning;  Chase got the rally going with a leadoff single through the right side, and took second Trevor Chapin's groundout.  Joe Libby's single to left moved Chase up to third, and he scored on Hartmann's sacrifice fly to center.  Vita smoked a single to right to move up Libby, the but rally ended when Andrew Gummow flied out to center.

Haddad kept the Lyons at bay in the top of the sixth, striking out Bisceglia and De La Cruz with runners on first and second.  The Owls grabbed another run in the eighth.  Vita tapped an infield single to shortstop, taking second on an error and third on a wild pitch.  Another wild pitch on ball four to Gummow allowed Vita to score, and KSC continued to push.  Pinch runner Tanner Luopa stole second base, followed by a walk to Andy Johnson.  Stephen Costello singled to first base, but Johnson was hit by the ball while heading for second base, and Boulay grounded out to second to end the threat.

The Owls had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth, when pinch hitter Austin Marino reached on an error, and pinch runner Vinny Parilla stole second with two down, but Hartmann popped up to second to end the game.

Keene State returns to the field on Sunday, taking on Endicott College at 11 a.m.