Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth broke a 4-4 tie with three runs in the bottom of the eighth and went on to beat the Keene State College baseball team 7-4 in a Little East Conference contest Wednesday at the UMD Baseball Complex, the first of two games on the day.  The Corsairs then scored nine runs in the final four innings to win the second contest, not counting toward the league standings, 12-2 in eight innings.
 
Records

• Keene State:  2-13, 1-7 LEC
• UMass-Dartmouth:  6-9, 4-5 LEC

How It Happened – Game One
Keene State scored three runs in the third to jump in front 3-2 and then went ahead 4-3 in the fifth, but the Corsairs scored the final four runs – three in the eighth inning – to post back-to-back wins for the first time this season as the Owls fell to 1-7 in league play.  RBI singles by DJ Perron and JR DiSarcina each had run scoring singles in the opening two frames to stake UMD to a 2-0 lead, but Keene State fought back, getting to UMD starter Shane Reardon for three two-out runs in the third as Josh Beayon (single), Joe Barter (double), and Colin McKeon (single) notched three consecutive hits.  Perron singled with one out in the third and moved to third on two wild pitches before scoring on Mitch Baker's single to tie the game as the Corsairs answered, but KSC went ahead again (4-3) when Josh DeFrancisco led off the fifth with a single, stole second, and scored on Barter's sacrifice fly.
 
Owl hurler Patrick McKeighan kept the UMD bats quiet in the fifth for a shutdown inning and pitched a season-high 6.1 innings overall, but left with the game tied when DiSarcina's sac fly in the sixth made it 4-4.
 
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth, when it got away from the Owls.  Andrew Bryant started the inning with an infield single before moving to second on an error.  Just two batters later, DiSarcina plated him with his third single of the day, which also drove in his third run of the day as UMD went in front 5-4, leading for the first time since the second inning.  The Corsairs did not stop there, as Mike Knell tagged Will Dolaher (0-2) with a two-run shot later in the inning for a 7-4 lead.
 
That was more than enough for Robbie Carrillo (2-2), who entered in the eighth and allowed only one walk while striking out five.  Keene State could not manage much offense late in the game, generating just two singles in the final four innings while striking out nine times against Zach DelVecchio and Carrillo.
 
DeFrancisco, McKeon, and Michael Montembeault each had two hits for the Owls.  KSC had 10 in the game, seven of which came before the end of the third inning.  Joe Barter drove in a pair of runs.  Perron (5-5) and DiSarcina combined to go 8-for-9 with four RBI in the top four of UMD's order.  The Corsairs had at least a hit in every inning and finished with 16.
 
How It Happened – Game Two
In the non-league part of the doubleheader, the Owls got an RBI single from Brendan Eaton to open the scoring in the top of the first and were still within 3-1 entering the fifth, but the Corsairs pulled away to a blowout win with nine runs in the final four innings, ending the game in the eighth with a 12-2 final.  UMD put up 13 more hits, finishing with 29 on the day, and swept a doubleheader for the first time since taking two from Becker College February 29 of last year.  Nine different Corsairs had a hit and recorded an RBI.  Trent Mayer went 2-for-3 with a walk while Mike Collins was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk for Keene State, but the Owls suffered their ninth consecutive loss.
 
UMass-Dartmouth answered KSC's run in the opening frame by scoring two runs, both unearned, in their first trip to the plate.  A groundout to shortstop by Knell in the third made it 3-1, but the game really got away from the Owls in the sixth when the first five Corsairs reached.  The inning started with a homer by Perron and got worse from there, as consecutive singles from Kyle Denis and Frank Celona made it 7-1.  Andrew Camacho's two-run single later in the inning in his first plate appearance of the season tacked on two more, and KSC was never in the game after that, only getting within 9-2 on Collins' base hit in the seventh before allowing a run on a miscue and a hit batter in the bottom half of the inning.
 
Ryan Sliwinski (0-3) started and took the loss for Keene State, allowing two unearned runs and two hits in two innings.  He struck out two.  UMass-Dartmouth used eight different pitchers, each pitching one inning.  The win went to Chase Carey (1-0), who pitched a 1-2-3 fifth.
 
Around the Horn

• The Owls lead the all-time series 29-24, but have lost five in a row and 11 of the past 13.  They have not won on the road against UMass-Dartmouth since 2013.
• Beayon and Barter continue to power KSC's offense, combining for 27 hits (12 doubles, four home runs) and 24 RBI.  Beayon is tied for sixth in the league with seven two-baggers.  John Mesagno of Eastern Connecticut State University leads with 12.

Up Next

• Keene State returns home for a conference doubleheader against Western Connecticut State University (1-8, 1-7 LEC) on Friday, April 23 (12:00 p.m.).
• UMass-Dartmouth travels to the University of Massachusetts-Boston (2-2, 2-2 LEC) for two LEC games on Saturday (April 24) at 12:00 p.m.  The Corsairs are 1-8 in their last nine against the Beacons.