KEENE, N.H. – Since taking the job three years ago, Keene State College baseball head coach Justin Blood has always preached the mantra of "Expect More" as the Owls looked to rise back up the Little East Conference ranks in a rebuild process.  He and the team would likely say there are still several more steps to take, but the first one can be checked off the list, as the Owls clinched a spot in the league tournament for the first time in seven years with an 8-7 win in the opener of what turned into a doubleheader sweep on Senior Day Friday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.  Keene State got back to .500 with an 8-2 win in the nightcap, notching their 20th win in the process.

Records

• Keene State:  20-20, 8-8 LEC
• Plymouth State:  9-20, 4-12 LEC

Postgame Interview (Coach Blood)
Postgame Interview (Tommy Ahlers)
Postgame Interview (Camden Thomas)

How It Happened
Needing one win to ensure a spot in the postseason, the Owls came flying out of the gates, opening a 6-0 lead through two innings that was threatened in the end but never overtaken.  In the first, after Evan Cali threw out Alex Rives trying to steal third following a leadoff double, the first three KSC hitters reached as they jumped all over Adrian Siravo, including an infield single by Cali before Tommy Ahlers was plunked and Jonathan Chatfield walked.  With one out, it was the Owls' captain that got them on the board first, as Brendan Eaton lined a two-run single through the left side to plate two.  Two batters later, Evan McCue laced a single to short to make it 3-0 and with Ethan Rainha then at the plate, KSC's first and third double steal worked out once more as Eaton scampered home well before McCue was tagged out.

Shea Zina then fired a nine-pitch 1-2-3 second for an important shut down inning, and Ahlers' big day got underway in earnest in the bottom half as he smoked a two-run homer off a tree beyond the left field fence for a 6-0 Owl advantage.  KSC had six runs and five hits off Siravo in the first two innings – perhaps not surprising, as they wound up hitting .336 as a team in their 10 home games this season.

Playing for their playoff lives, Plymouth did not go away, getting to within 7-5 in the sixth after single runs in the third and fifth before three in the sixth, including a two-run single by Rives and an RBI double by Jackson Curtis with two outs.  Luke Sokolski walked to put the tying run on base suddenly – in an inning where two of the first three struck out against David Floyd in a 7-2 game – but the Owl reliever got out of further damage when he whiffed Brendan Flynn.

Keene State got one of the runs right back in the bottom half when Ahlers again came through, lashing his second dinger of the day to left off Eoin Hamell-Kelleher for an 8-5 advantage.

Floyd coasted through the seventh and eighth, including a pair of strikeouts (six in total) to punctuate his outing in the eighth as KSC closed in on a win with an 8-5 lead.  It got dicey in the ninth, mostly thanks to the Owls not throwing strikes.  Daniel Cantafi came in and threw seven straight balls, hitting a batter and walking a batter before being lifted as the tying run came to the plate.  Troy Brennan then came in looking for a save, but walked the first batter he faced on five pitches to load the bases with nobody out as PSU brought the go-ahead run to the plate.  The visitors made it 8-6 on Sam Malgeri's sacrifice fly, and then loaded the bases again after Nick Healey was hit by a pitch with one out.  Scooter Summa then put Owl fans even more on edge after singling to left that moved everybody up a base and made it 8-7 with the tying run now just 90 feet away.  However, Brennan then buckled down, striking out Josh Worthington for a huge second out and then blowing away Rives on a 2-2 pitch to get the save and lock up KSC's playoff berth, eliminating the Panthers in the process.

Zina (3-3) got the win, allowing two runs (one earned) and four hits over five innings.  He walked four and struck out five, throwing 89 pitches.

Siravo fell to 2-3, allowing eight hits and seven runs in five innings with two walks and five K's.

Ahlers was the star of KSC's offense, going 2-for-3 with the two homers and drove in three while also walking.  Cali (2-5), Eaton (2-4, 2 RBI), and George Young (2-4, RBI) also had multi-hit games.

Rives and Curtis combined to go 4-for-10 out of the top two spots in Plymouth's order and Worthington had a multi-hit game out of the No. 9 spot, but the Panthers dropped their sixth straight.

With what seemed at times over the last seven years to be an elusive playoff spot – and No. 5 seed –clinched – the story of a Game 2 that could not change the standings much for either team was the outing of KSC freshman Cam Thomas, who struck out a career-best 11 and carried a no-hitter into the sixth.  He fanned a pair in each of the first three innings and then struck out the side including a pair looking in a dominant fifth to reach double-digits.  After allowing his first hit with two down in the sixth as Chris Faherty lined a single into right, he capped off his outing by striking out Sokolski on a breaking ball that he was nowhere close to hitting as it broke down into the dirt.
Thomas left in line for a win as the Owls took a 2-0 lead in the third off Elias Bourque on an RBI single by Chatfield before another run scored later on a wild pitch, but the Panthers again rallied late, scoring a run apiece in the seventh and eighth to make it 2-2.  In the eighth, PSU then loaded the bases with one out as Siravo reached on an infield single to put the go-ahead run at third, but Cole Johnston lined out to Otis Follet at short, who doubled off Jack Marsden at third to end the inning.

KSC subsequently had their way with Jason Smith and Greg Mayo in the eighth, scoring six times, again sparked by a big hit by Ahlers with one out, who doubled to the fence in left while not missing his third home run of the day by very much.  He moved to third on a passed ball, and Chatfield then walked to put runners at the corners.  After his big defensive play, Follet then delivered the go-ahead run with a line drive single to right to put the Owls in front 3-2.  Following a walk to Zina that loaded the bases, Eaton – playing in his final home game as an Owl – brought home key insurance with a two-run single to left to make it 5-2.  KSC kept going, scoring another run on a wild pitch when Zina could cruise home before Hamilton Barnes scored two more with an RBI single into left that made it 8-2.

Young (4-1) then sent down the Panthers in order on nine pitches to finish off the sweep.  He allowed one hit and struck out one over the final 1.2 innings.

Smith (0-3) allowed three hits and six runs while walking three and getting one out in the eighth.

Follet finished 2-for-4 with an RBI for KSC at the plate, while Ahlers (2-5) and Alec Varano (2-3, BB) added multi-hit games.

Owl pitching struck out 26 Panthers in the doubleheader a week after whiffing 22 Corsairs in a split against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

Keene State, after starting the season 4-11, has gone 16-9 since, and will be the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament that begins Wednesday at Monan Park in Boston.  The Owls will take on No. 2 seed Eastern Connecticut State University in a first round game May 8 at 3:30 p.m.  The University of Massachusetts-Boston is the top seed, UMass-Dartmouth No. 3, the University of Southern Maine No. 4, and Rhode Island College No. 6.