KEENE, N.H. – Four Owls finished with multiple hits as the Keene State College baseball team scored five in the first and six in the third as they ran out two to different commanding leads early before staving off New England College 16-12 in a game that took nearly three and a half hours on Wednesday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.

Records

• Keene State:  16-18
• New England College:  6-24

Postgame Interview (Coach Blood)

How It Happened
The Owls opened leads of 5-1 and 11-5 in the early going with their big innings, but had to hold off a Pilgrims team that kept battling and took advantage of three KSC errors, five walks, four hit batters, a balk, and two wild pitches to bring the tying and go-ahead runs to the plate in the eighth inning after they had trailed 14-7 through six.  After NEC scored five times across the seventh and eighth, KSC had to turn to Troy Brennan, who got out of further trouble in the eighth when he got David Spigel to fly to right to end the inning.  He then tossed an easy 1-2-3 ninth for his fourth save of the season.

It did not seem the game would require a save for much of it, as KSC hit around starter Brody McNair and reliever Liam Shaw (0-1) to the tune of eight hits and 11 runs (10 earned) over the opening 2.1 innings.  At one point in the first, the Owls racked up five consecutive hits, including an RBI triple from Shea Zina that put KSC up 2-1.  Brendan Eaton followed with an RBI single of his own, and the same from Evan McCue two batters later made it 4-1.

Trailing 5-1, New England College needed just two innings to erase the lead, including a two-run double by Brett Patnode with nobody out in the top of the third that made it 5-4.  That was all for KSC starter Jack Lang, and a pair of fly balls against Sean Brennan helped tie the game two batters later.

It did not remain that way for long against Shaw, who walked five people in the bottom of the third as the Owls scored six times, including bases loaded walks to Joseph Lucas and Evan Cali that pushed them back in front 7-5.  A two-run single by Tommy Ahlers that also plated a third run when leftfielder Dameon Tarpley let go by him made it 10-5, and a fielder's choice grounder by Zina later scored Ahlers (who advanced to third on the error) put the Owls up six runs.

The Pilgrims kept scoring, though, making it 11-7 in the fourth before Joe Schlehuber came in and got a pair of strikeouts and pitched three scoreless frames with five strikeouts to calm things down.

KSC pushed their lead to seven by scoring twice in the fifth, as Lucas walked and Lucas Rogers followed with a double.  Ahlers' groundout brought home Lucas, and Rogers then scored on another RBI hit by Zina.  A single, two walks, and a sacrifice fly from Ahlers in the bottom of the sixth against Braeden Adams made it 14-7.

However, again NEC got two runs right back, this time without the benefit of a hit as KSC issued a walk and made two errors that led to two unearned runs that made it 14-9.  The Owls stranded two in the bottom of the seventh, and were again in quick trouble in the eighth when a double, walk, and error came consecutively with one out.  Ryan Cote was then plunked and Tarpley grounded out to make it a 14-11 game, and Nick Becker's run-scoring infield single suddenly had the tying runs on base for the Pilgrims before Brennan came in.

Zina finished 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBI, while Ahlers drove in four and reached on a single and a walk.  Eaton had three hits (3-4, RBI) while Otis Follet (2-4, 2 RBI, R, BB) and George Young (2-5, BB) also had multi-hit games.  KSC had 16 hits overall.

NEC's offense was paced by a 2-for-3 efforts from Cooper Ribaudo and Brady Philibotte, both of whom drove in a run.  Cote was 2-for-4 with an RBI.  The Pilgrims hit six doubles on the day, two by Philibotte.

Keene State has won 15 of 19 all-time meetings against NEC, and improved to 4-1 at home this sason with a win.

A big doubleheader at the Owl Athletic Complex looms on Saturday, as the Owls (5-6 LEC) host the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth – tied for first place in the conference at 10-1 – on Saturday (April 27) starting at 12:00 p.m.