WORCESTER, Mass. - The Keene State College baseball team carried a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh of their season opener, but then saw Clark University send 16 batters to the plate and score 12 times in that half of the inning in an eventual 15-4 Owl loss Thursday afternoon at Granger Field.

Records

• Keene State:  0-1
• Clark:  2-3

How It Happened

The Owls erased an early 2-0 deficit with a three-run top of the fifth on a single by Sam Czel and a two-run double by Tom Meucci, but their 3-2 lead did not last, as after working out of trouble in the fifth and sixth, the flood gates opened in the seventh when they walked four, hit another batter with a pitch and allowed seven hits, turning a one-run lead into a 14-3 deficit.  Meucci finished 1-for-4 with a double, while Czel was 1-for-4 with a run-scoring single.  Jake McMaster had a double and a walk in his Owl debut, while Josh DeFrancisco (2B) and Matthew Goldman each had hits.  Isaac Keehn started on the mound for KSC, allowing two runs and four hits over five innings, striking out seven in his first start since April 11 of last season.

Keene State fell behind 1-0 in the first inning after Clark's Dylan Horn, who went 4-for-4 with two RBI and three runs, led off with a single and eventually scored on a fielder's choice grounder to second.  The Owls were unable to hit back right away, as they managed just one hit against freshman Casey Gorczyca over the first four innings.  McMaster's one-out double in the second, and subsequent steal of third, was stranded after a grounder back to the pitcher and a strikeout.  The Owls also left two on in the fourth, as Connor Walsh and McMaster each walked, but a pop out to second ended the threat.  A two-out run in the fourth by the Cougars made it 2-0, as James Huber reached with a one-out single before eventually coming home on Andrea Casabianca's two-out double.  Keene State answered quickly, however, as they put the first two on in their half of the fifth after Colin McKeon worked a walk and DeFrancisco followed with a double to left to put two in scoring position.  Czel's base hit, the third consecutive Owl to reach, sliced the deficit to one and, after Max Moss relieved Gorczyca, Meucci's two-run double put KSC in front 3-2.  He was thrown out trying to go to third and a pair of strikeouts ended the frame.

Keehn capped his season-opening outing by working out of trouble in the bottom half of the fifth.  Horn was hit by a pitch to kick off the inning and advanced to second after Derek Lefebvre walked.  The pair eventually executed a double steal with one out, moving the tying run to third, but Keehn wound up striking out the side, including Chris Radovic and Huber to get out of it and keep the Owls in front.  Both teams threatened in the sixth before coming up empty.  Brian Vieira took over on the mound for the Owls and loaded the bases with two outs, but got Lefebvre to line out to Tyler Gammie at shortstop to preserve the one-run lead.

KSC went down 1-2-3 in their half of the seventh, and the game went downhill after that, as Clark tied the game (3-3) after Huber's one-out double scored Ryan Ruhlin.  Greg Poggioli relieved Alex Koletar (0-1), getting a pop up to second for the second out of the inning, but the Owls could not get the elusive third out anytime soon, as the Cougars scored 11 runs and had 10 consecutive batters reach base.  Nick Jordan's two-run double put the home team up 5-3, and the next batter Horn also drove in two to double the lead.  A triple by Lefebvre scored one more to make it 8-3, and he eventually scored himself on an error that would have ended the inning.  Andrew Thibault's bases-clearing double to center later in the inning extended Clark's lead to 10 runs (13-3), and that was more than enough for the Cougars, who had scored 21 runs in their first four games, dropping three of them (all by one run).

Koletar took the loss for Keene State, as he allowed three runs, two hits and one walk over 1/3 of an inning.  The Owls used three pitchers overall in the decisive seventh inning and walked nine overall in the game.  Moss (1-1) picked up the win for Clark after giving up just one hit and two walks over four innings, striking out four.

Around the Horn

• Meucci, who hit a career-best .292 last year, picked up where he left off in 2019 by driving in two more runs.  He now has driven in 16 over his past 31 games.
• Keene State had won two in a row over Clark in Worcester prior to today.  The teams have now split six all-time meetings.
• McMaster, Joe Barter, Mark Barrett and Malik Pearson all made their first appearances with Keene State in the game.
• KSC was picked eighth in the Little East Conference preseason coaches' poll and Clark sixth in the NEWMAC.

Up Next

• The Owls will travel to New York and New Jersey next weekend, beginning with a pair of seven-inning games against Farmingdale State College on Saturday, March 7 at 12:00 pm.  The Rams, who went 32-9 last season and made the NCAA tournament before falling to Johns Hopkins University and The College of New Jersey, will be making their season debut.
• Clark will head to Florida this weekend and take on Illinois College (0-1) on Sunday, March 1 at 5:45 pm.