Keene, N.H. - The Keene State College Owls (10-20, 3-11 LEC) baseball team split their season-ending double-header with Umass Dartmouth (19-20, 8-6 LEC) at home Friday afternoon, winning the opener 16-15, and then dropping the second game 10-2.

Game 1:

The Owls and Corsairs combined for a whopping 40 hits and 31 runs, with the Owls ultimately getting the better of UMass in the slugfest. Joe Libby led the Owls' offense with five RBI, going 3-for-4 including a two-run homer.

Nick Vita got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning when he singled home Libby. He then rounded the bases on his own when Vinny Parilla singled he and Code Dube home to bring KSC up 3-0.

Vita and Libby were at it again in the second inning when both hit two-run homers to bring the Owls up 7-0 at the end of the second inning.

Ryan Medeiros got the Corsairs on the board in the third inning when he grounded out to first, but scored Wayne Bolz in the process.

KSC got another run in the third when a Libby sac fly to right scored Tanner Chase.

After both teams were held scoreless in the fourth inning, they each tacked on five runs in the fifth. The Corsairs got RBIs from Matt Russell, George Agostini, and Cory DeMedeiros. DeMedeiros' came by way of a three-run homer. The Owls' offense came from Libby, Matt Boulay, Trevor Chapin, and Parilla.

Dartmouth proceeded to put another five on the board in the sixth inning. Alex Newton scored on a throwing error, then Ben Monteiro and Nate Farias did the same during the next at-bat. Agostini then singled through the right side to record the only two RBI of the inning.

With the score 13-11 heading into the seventh, Dartmouth put another run on the board to cut it to a single run.

KSC put up two runs in the bottom of the inning, one by way of an error and the other coming on a Chase RBI single up the middle.

UMD scored three runs in the eighth inning. Agostini cracked a two-run dinger to right field and Farias hit a sac-fly to center to score Alberto Vasquez.

With the score knotted at 15 heading into the bottom of the eighth, the stage was set for Dube. After Vita singled up the middle, then advanced to second on a wild pitch, Dube cranked a double to left field, scoring Vita easily.

That double ended up being the deciding run in the game, as neither team crossed the plate in the ninth.

Reliever Vinny Mangiagli ended up earning the win for the Owls. Karney Boff took the L for the visiting Corsairs.

Game 2:

The Corsair bats stayed hot in the second game of the double header, while the Owls' seemed to finally cool off as Umass walked away with a 10-2 victory.

Keene had a promising start when Boulay hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, but it would be the last run they would score until the ninth inning.

Ben Montiero went 4-for-5 in the game with four RBI. Medeiros, Agostini, Farias, Bolz, and Evan Eldridge each each an RBI to help UMass to their 10-run game.

The highlight of game two came in the bottom of the ninth inning when Vita, cheered on by a running standing ovation from the Owls' dugout, blasted the first pitch of his final at-bat with the Owls over the right field fence for his second homerun of the day.

Steve Colella got the victory for the Corsairs, going seven innings and only giving up one run. Dube took the loss, giving up four earned runs in four innings.

It was senior day for the Owls, and between games they took time to recognize each of their four graduating seniors: Nick Vita, Andrew Gummow, Shawn Egan, and Vinny Mangiagli.