CASTLETON, Vt. – Brayden Howrigan allowed one run over a season-high seven innings and struck out a season-best 10, four more than his previous high, as Castleton University snapped a six-game Little East Conference losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Keene State College baseball team Tuesday afternoon at Spartan Field in their home opener.  KSC saw their five-game run overall snapped.

Records

• Keene State:  13-12, 3-2 LEC
• Castleton:  9-13, 1-6 LEC

How It Happened
Playing at home for the first time, the Spartans scored four times over the opening three innings to answer KSC's run in the top of the first and that proved to be enough for Howrigan and Riley Orr, who combined to strike out 13 batters and got seven ground ball outs.  Jonathan Chatfield provided KSC both of their runs, as he doubled home Tommy Ahlers in the first for a 1-0 lead before being thrown out trying to extend to a triple for the first out of the inning with Hamilton Barnes still occupying that base after he moved there on the hit.  Even still, the Owls had a chance to add another, but two strikeouts ended the inning, and their bats went silent from there, not scoring again until Chatfield once again went deep for a solo shot with one out in the ninth.  KSC was trailing 5-2 by that point, as Castleton tagged Brendan Muhs early.  The Owls' lead was gone in the blink of an eye when Reece de Castro homered to start the bottom of the first.  Tyler McLain followed with a single, but Muhs was able to escape further trouble.  That was not the case in the second though, and the Spartans, who were coming off being outscored by an aggregate total of 24-0 in their previous doubleheader at Rhode Island College, went deep for the second time in as many innings.  Addison Shaub worked a one-out walk, and Kannon Dush then followed with his first career home run pulled over the left field fence for a 3-1 lead.  Keene State struck out five times across the second and third innings, and then faced a three-run deficit after four when Jackson Cardozo singled to shortstop, moved to second on a passed ball, and then scored on Hunter Perkins' base hit to right.  The Owls got out of further harm when Shaub grounded into a 1-4-3 double play with two on.

Trailing 4-1, KSC never had multiple baserunners on from that point forward – and in fact did not have that happen over the final eight innings.  Ahlers singled with two down in the fifth, but was thrown out stealing to end the inning.  Eaton had a base hit to begin the seventh, but a fielder's choice, looking strikeout, and another caught stealing rapidly ended that frame.  Chatfield's fifth homer of the season – this one to left field in an opposite field piece of hitting – trimmed the Owls' deficit to three before Josh Beayon followed with a walk, but two strikeouts ended the game.  KSC had four innings with multiple whiffs, including the side in the second and ninth.

Muhs (0-5) departed after three innings, allowing six hits and four runs to take the loss.  He walked two and struck out two while throwing 57 pitches.  David Floyd and Patrick McKeighan combined to allow just three hits and one unearned run over the final five frames while walking one and striking out six to keep KSC within shouting distance, but their offense never woke up.

"Floyd and McKeighan both pitched well.  They gave us a chance to get back into the game," said Owls head coach Justin Blood.  "We didn't make adjustments at the plate and failed to put any pressure on them offensively after the first inning."

Howrigan picked up his first win of the season, allowing six hits and one run while striking out 10 in seven innings.  His previous high of six strikeouts came in 2.2 innings against Fisher College on March 18 and was matched on March 28 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 3.2 innings.  Orr had not pitched since March 24.

Chatfield finished 2-for-4 with a double, home run, and two RBI out of the No. 3 spot in KSC's lineup.  Brendan Eaton (2-4) added a multi-hit effort, but outside of Chatfield, the Owls had only five singles.

The top four in Castleton's order combined for seven of their nine hits, including a 2-for-4 showing for de Castro.  McLain and Cardozo each also went 2-for-4.

Around the Horn

• Chatfield's five home runs are good for third in the league.  Matt Malcom (senior) of Eastern Connecticut State University has nine and DJ Perron (senior) of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth as eight.  The Owl rookie is hitting .325 with 11 doubles, two triples, five home runs, and 18 RBI in his first 24 games.  His OPS is 1.144.
• Ahlers, also a freshman, is 13th in batting average in the LEC at .338.
• KSC is 0-5 at Castleton since they joined the conference, scoring a total of 15 runs in those games (three per contest).  They have not scored more than four in any of them.
• The Owls are 2-10 when they score three runs or fewer.

Up Next

• Keene State is back at it tomorrow (Wednesday, April 12) for a non-conference contest at Roger Williams University (8-14) at 3:30 p.m. before returning home to face the University of Massachusetts-Boston on Saturday, who they have not beaten in nine years – losing 15 straight.  Roger Williams won 27 games a year ago, but stumbled out to a 1-10 record to begin this season.
• Castleton hosts Middlebury College (13-6) tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.  The Panthers are receiving votes in the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll, though just lost two of three in a NESCAC series at home to Wesleyan University.