KEENE, N.H. –
Tommy Ahlers sizzled with a six-hit day that included a home run and seven RBI as the Keene State College baseball team won their third and fourth straight games on Monday afternoon, hammering Western Connecticut State University 10-4 and 14-4 in seven innings in a pair of Little East Conference contests at the Owl Athletic Complex. The doubleheader was originally scheduled for April 5, then moved to yesterday at the Winchendon School, before ultimately being played in Keene with the Owls batting as the visiting team.
Highlights
Postgame Interview (Coach Blood)
Postgame Interview (Tommy Ahlers & Jonathan Chatfield)
Diving into their pitching depth after using
Jake Jachym and
Camden Thomas in Friday's sweep of the University of Massachusetts-Boston, KSC (12-13, 5-2 LEC) jumped out in front early in both games and was hardly threatened by WestConn (5-14, 0-6 LEC), who was playing for the first time in 11 days.
In the opener, the Owls got on the board with a pair in the first inning on two-out RBI singles from
Jonathan Chatfield and
Otis Follet. The Wolves got one back in the third when Jayson Hannah's run-scoring groundout plated Spencer Barnett, but KSC starter
Shea Zina did well to allow only one run after the Wolves had two runners in scoring position with nobody out.
It was all Owls from there, as they loaded the bases with one out in the fourth on a single by Follet and two walks.
Evan Cali got the run back with a sacrifice fly, and with the help of shoddy WestConn defense, KSC piled on.
Evan McCue reached first when first baseman Thomas Keough dropped a popup that would have ended the inning, scoring
Alec Varano. Ahlers followed with a two-run double to give the Owls a 6-1 lead.
Despite walking five, Zina controlled the Wolves' lineup, allowing three hits and one run with six strikeouts over 5.1 innings to pick up his first win of the season.
Liam Conley fired 1.2 innings of hitless relief with three strikeouts, including getting out of a bases loaded, one-out jam he inherited in the sixth by striking out Barnett and getting Ryan Vallie to bounce to third to keep it 6-1. He whiffed two more in the seventh to easily work around a one-out hit by pitch.
Keene State put the game firmly out of reach with a three-run eighth highlighted by an RBI single for McCue and Ahlers' third home run of the season that bounced off the top of the left center field fence and went over.
Including the second game, Ahlers has three consecutive three-hit games and four in the last five. He ran his hitting streak to 22 consecutive games, recording a remarkable three hits in 11 of those contests. In the last 21 games, the junior from Salem, N.H. is hitting an eye-popping .511 (47-for-92) with eight doubles, three triples, three home runs, and 29 RBI. In that same span, Chatfield has 22 RBI and McCue has 19. Ahlers and McCue drove in a combined six runs in today's opener.
Max Grewal (2-3) took the loss for WestConn, allowing six hits and six runs (three earned) in 4.2 innings. He walked five and struck out five and threw 102 pitches.
Nick Lobuono (2-4, RBI) and Vallie (2-4, 2B) were the lone Wolves with multiple hits, pacing an offense that struck out 11 times.
An eight-run top of the third helped the Owls run away from the Wolves to post the sweep, an inning that began with a hit by pitch and a walk before
Luke Anderson's attempted sacrifice bunt was thrown away by pitcher Brian Mansfield when he attempted to throw out the lead runner at third, allowing a pair of runs to score. Ahlers later singled to center and Chatfield followed with a blast to right to make it 6-0, and KSC was well on their way to a fourth straight win. Chatfield's 2-for-4 effort, which included three RBI, in the nightcap moved him to within one hit of 100 for his career.
The Owls overall scored in three straight innings, making it 9-2 on a laced single up the middle by Ahlers before piling on five more in the fifth including a bases loaded walk to Cali and run-scoring singles by McCue, Ahlers, and Chatfield.
Nathan Pirog got the start for KSC and went the first three innings, allowing two hits and two unearned runs. He walked three and struck out four.
Jack Lang (1-0) got the win in relief by tossing two perfect innings with two whiffs.
Mansfield fell to 1-3 for WestConn, allowing six hits and nine runs (six earned) in four innings. He walked two and struck out one.
Ahlers recorded another three-hit game and drove in three, while
Evan Cali was 3-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs out of the top spot in the lineup.
KSC has won four straight against the Wolves and 28 of 34 against WCSU in Keene all-time.
The Owls are right back at it tomorrow with a road conference contest at Vermont State University Castleton (9-16, 3-5 LEC) at 3:30 p.m.
