KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College baseball team made many fast and non-threatening outs on Tuesday afternoon as four Eastern Connecticut State University pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout in an 11-0, eight-inning win for the nationally eighth-ranked Warriors in Little East action at the Owl Athletic Complex.

Records

• Keene State:  13-16, 3-5 LEC
• No. 8 Eastern Connecticut:  24-5, 9-1 LEC

Postgame Interview (Coach Blood)

How It Happened
The Owls struck out only two times – normally a good number – but went down 1-2-3 in four out of eight innings and grounded into double plays in two other frames as they were shut out for the third time this season and held to four or fewer hits as a team for the 10th time.  KSC hung around early, with a two-run homer to left for Eastern Connecticut's Mason Balmer in the second accounting for the only runs scored for either side in the opening four innings.  However, while the Owl bats remained nearly completely silent, the Warriors broke away with three runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth, scoring in the final four innings overall.  KSC starter Jack Lang pitched effectively overall over the first four innings to keep his team in the game, but quickly ran into problems in the fifth as Ray Leonzi and Brent Cosculluela each singled to start the inning.  Noah Plantamuro then sacrificed both into scoring position, and Zach Donahue followed with a two-run double to the right center gap to double the lead.  That was enough to double the lead.  A walk, passed ball, and sacrifice fly from Matt Malcom made it a 5-0 game, and the lead only grew from there thanks to Nolan Lincoln breezing through five innings on only 48 pitches (an average of 9.6 per inning).  After Eastern Connecticut took the lead on the Balmer home run in the second, KSC appeared to be attempting a two-out rally when Alec Varano singled to right and then Nathaniel Hudson roped a ball to left for a base hit.  However, Hudson was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, and the Owls' next baserunner did not come until the bottom of the sixth on Tommy Ahlers' single into center with two outs with the score, at that point, 8-0.

Eastern Connecticut's pitching staff needed only 80 pitches total to get through eight innings – exactly 10 per inning on average – including 10 from Nicholas Furino in the sixth, nine from Andre Jose in the seventh, and 13 from Tim Pfaffenbichler in the eighth.  Pfaffenbichler even walked the first two batters of that inning, but the inning (and game) were over three pitches later.

The Warriors had only three hits in the opening four innings against Lang, but wound up finishing with 14 in the game.  Lang (2-1) took the loss, with a rough fifth inning tarnishing his line to the tune of allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits in 4.1 innings.  He walked one and struck out two.

Lincoln (5-1), who also started against Keene State in both head-to-head matchups last year, picked up another win in the series, allowing two hits in five innings with two strikeouts.  The Londonderry, N.H. native allowed three hits in four innings with one walk and one strikeout in a 10-0 win in Mansfield, Conn. nearly exactly a year ago (plus one day), and then faced KSC again on May 3, allowing three runs (two earned) in five innings with one walk and four whiffs in a game that the then-No. 2 and eventual national champion Warriors had to hang on to win 8-6 over an Owl team that won six games.

Balmer finished 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI for ECSU.  Donahue was 2-for-4 and drove in three, while Alejandro Soriano added a 3-for-4 effort with an RBI and a walk.

KSC was held to four singles from four different players and fell to 1-9 when having four hits or less in a game this season (2-11 when having six or fewer).

Around the Horn

• Ahlers did have one of KSC's base hits, now making it nine out of 11 games with a hit for the freshman and Salem, N.H. native who is hitting a team-best .318.
• Varano is five for his last six and is reaching base at a .462 clip in his young career.
• The Owls have lost six straight in the series, five by at least 10 runs.

Up Next

• KSC, who has now lost five straight since moving to two games over .500 at 13-11, hosts Mitchell College (24-6, 8-0 NECC) tomorrow (Wednesday, April 19) at 3:00 p.m.  The Mariners won last year's matchup 6-3 in Connecticut, which was the first ever between the teams.  Mitchell would go on to win the New England Collegiate Conference (currently in their last year in the four-team league) last year before going 1-2 in the NCAA tournament, losing to No. 10 Rowan University 7-1 and No. 24 Washington & Jefferson College 13-6 with a 10-8 win over Lebanon Valley College sandwiched between.
• Eastern Connecticut travels to Manhattanville College (10-16, 4-6 Skyline) tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.  The Valiants have lost six of seven, allowing 12, 13, and 20 runs in three different games in that span.