KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College pitching staff surrendered 12 runs in the opening five innings including a pair of three-run home runs in consecutive frames as they could not hold a 5-3 lead after one in an eventual 13-7 loss to Eastern Connecticut State University in a Little East Conference contest that had first place permutations on Tuesday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.

KSC (15-14, 8-3 LEC) has begun to vanquish some of its demons of the past decade, but has yet to break through against the Warriors (22-8, 9-2 LEC), who have won the last 13 meetings since March 30, 2019.  In fact, the Owls have just three wins at home against ECSU since joining the conference in 1997 (they have 10 in true road games and two at neutral sites).  Had they broken through today, Keene State would have been in sole possession of first place in the conference with five games to go and seriously eyeing their fourth regular season league title, with the others coming in 2006, 2008, 2010.  Instead, they currently sit in second place in the LEC standings, a game behind (and essentially two behind) Eastern Connecticut, who also got help related to the No. 1 seed when the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth – KSC's Friday opponent on the road – beat the University of Massachusetts-Boston (9-4 LEC) 6-1 in a fog-shortened seven inning game.  UMB and Eastern also meet this weekend.

The Owls could not overcome a very rough outing from their pitching staff, which surrendered double-digit runs for the eighth time this season and 18 hits, tied for the second most in a game this season.  Eastern Connecticut broke out to a 3-0 lead against Shea Zina as the first three batters of the game reached, the first on a walk.  Hank Penders and Josh Cofrancesco followed with singles to put the Warriors on the board first, and later an RBI double by Preston Cosme-Cruz and a run-scoring groundout by Emmanuel Zaiter put the visitors up three runs six batters in.

Keene State had an encouraging fast response against AJ Rooks, who was not effective.  Evan Cali began the Owls' offensive day with a single and the first three to the plate recorded base hits for KSC including an RBI double to right-center by hitting machine Tommy Ahlers.  Jonathan Chatfield hit a foul pop for the first out, but Rooks walked the next two to force in a run and load the bases.  An RBI groundout by Ethan Rainha tied the game, and shoddy defense by the Warriors – who made nine errors in the two games against KSC – helped the Owls take a lead when Zaiter threw away a ground ball by Domminic Tagliaferro, scoring two runs to make it 5-3.

Zina bounced back with a quick second, but Nicholas Furino authored a fast bottom half, and KSC's lead then vanished in a third inning that began with a single, passed ball, wild pitch, and an error to make it a one-run game again against David Floyd.  A single by Alejandro Soriano then moved the tying run into scoring position, and following a strikeout of Cosme-Cruz, Zaiter floated an RBI single into right center.

ECSU's four-run top of the fourth proved to be a major momentum swing in the game.  Ray Leonzi began the uprising with a one-out double, and the Warriors then got a walk from Hank Penders and a base hit from Josh Cofrancesco to load the bases.  Soriano grounded into a fielder's choice to help his team retake the lead, but perhaps the most important swing of the day followed, as Cosme-Cruz lofted home run on a 1-1 pitch by Jack Lang over the left center fence to suddenly make it 9-5.

KSC engineered a response in the bottom half to stay right there, as Luke Anderson's one out single turned into a two-run rally when Cali followed with a double to put two in scoring position, McCue poked an RBI single to right, and Ahlers grounded to third to make it 9-7.  The Owls had a chance to make a free pass to Chatfield and another ECSU error hurt as they loaded the bases to put the tying run back in scoring position, but Dan Driscoll got Otis Follet to ground to first.

Two pitches into the fifth, the Warriors already had two runners in scoring position as J.T. Clark put down a perfect bunt up the third base line and Ian Moser followed with a double to right over Rainha's head.  Two batters later, Leonzi pulled a ball over the fence in the same direction for the second three-run home run by the Warriors in as many innings to make it 12-7.

The Owls' offense did not do much from there, and what chances they did get, they could not capitalize against Dan Driscoll and Nathan Furino.  In the sixth, McCue reached on an error to start the inning and Ahlers followed with his third hit of the game to put the first two on down five.  Two fly outs and a strikeout ended that threat quickly, and the Owls had just one at bat with a runner in scoring position over the last three innings – when Zina flied to center to end the eighth with McCue on second and Chatfield on first.
Lang (1-1) took the loss, allowing three hits and four runs.

Nicholas Furino (1-0) got the win for Eastern Connecticut, allowing two runs and four hits in 2.2 innings with one walk and three strikeouts.  Driscoll and his brother Nate pitched 5.1 scoreless relief innings, allowing six hits and whiffing four.

Liam Conley was the lone Owl of six arms to not allow a run, tossing three scoreless innings with one strikeout.

Keene State was outhit 18-13, but 11 of their 13 hits were singles.  ECSU, meanwhile, swatted three doubles and two home runs.  The top five in the Warriors' order proved impossible for the Owls to get out, as they finished 14-for-25 and drove in 10 of their 13 runs.  They had chances to drive in runs partly because Clark out of the No. 7 spot singled, Moser out of the No. 8 spot had two hits, and Dylan Jackson in the No. 9 spot worked a walk.

Cali, McCue, and Ahlers teamed up to go 8-for-15 with three RBI to pace the Owls' offense.  The 3-for-5, two RBI effort by Ahlers helped him reach 150 career hits after he reached 100 just a month ago.  On the season, he is hitting .479.  Entering the day, his .474 average was good for seventh nationally among qualified players in Division III.

KSC has five conference games left on the season, including a Friday LEC doubleheader at UMass-Dartmouth, but will first host Springfield College (10-19, 3-8 NEWMAC) in non-conference action tomorrow (Wednesday, April 23) at 3:00 p.m.