MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Keene State College baseball team allowed three runs with two outs in the first inning and left three on over the first two innings while not recording an extra-base hit as they lost to No. 20 Eastern Connecticut State University 11-1 in seven innings in a Little East Conference matchup between two teams on winning streaks Tuesday afternoon at the Mansfield Complex.

Records

• Keene State:  11-13, 3-2 LEC
• No. 20 Eastern Connecticut:  19-5, 7-0 LEC

How It Happened
The Owls generated a two-out threat in their first trip to the plate after singles from Jonathan Chatfield and Otis Follet, but could not score, and then ECSU plated three in their half of the first inning after the first two batters grounded out, which more or less told the story of how the day would ultimately go.  The Warriors went 8-for-17 (.471) with runners on base in a game where they had 12 hits overall.  Many of their baserunners came for free, as KSC walked six and hit two while striking out only two from the mound.  In the fourth leading 4-0, Eastern tacked on two more after Jason Claiborn was hit with a pitch to start the inning before the next batter Zach Donahue homered.  In the sixth, Claiborn singled with one out and Donahue walked before Josh Cofrancesco made it 7-0 with an RBI single.  A subsequent walk and fielder's choice brought in another.
Keene State got on the board in the top of the seventh when Hamilton Barnes reached on an error and Ethan Rainha singled to start the frame before Cali plated Barnes with two outs.  KSC walked two more in the bottom half, however, and both of them ended up scoring plus one more as the dropped a mercy rule game to put an abrupt end to their five-game winning streak that moved them to within one game of .500.  Eastern Connecticut, who fell out of the top 25 poll after a 1-5 start, has won 18 in a row since.
The Warriors needed only 84 pitches to record 24 outs.  Nathan Furino (3-0) started and went the first 6.2 innings, allowing five hits and one unearned run.  He did not walk or strike out any batters.

Jake Jachym got the ball for KSC and took the loss, allowing seven hits and six runs in four innings to fall to 1-3.  He struck out one.  The Owls' bullpen surrendered five runs in the two-plus innings after Jachym left.

Offensively, Cali was 1-for-3 and drove in the lone run while Chatfield had a pair of hits in three at bats.  Follet, Rainha, and McCue had the only other hits, all singles.  Brendan Eaton saw his hitting streak end at 16 games.

"We didn't execute pitches we needed to, or command the baseball in general," said Keene State head coach Justin Blood.  "We allowed their starter to throw get-me-over breaking balls over and over again and didn't make an adjustment to get to that pitch.  You are not going to beat a team like Eastern if you don't defend, pitch, and hit at a high level.  We did none of those things at a high level today."

The top four in ECSU's order went 6-for-16 and drove in eight of their 11 runs, led by Donahue's 2-for-4 with five RBI.

Keene State has lost eight straight in the series and five in a row in Connecticut.

The Owls return home to host Roger Williams University (16-2, 6-0 CCC) tomorrow (Wednesday, April 10) at 2:30 p.m.