MANSFIELD, Conn. – The road has not been a friendly place for the Keene State College baseball team thus far in 2025, and that did not change on Wednesday afternoon, as Eastern Connecticut State University scored seven runs across the sixth and seventh innings to turn a one-run game into a runaway in an eventual 12-7 win over the Owls at the Mansfield Complex in Little East Conference action.

KSC (8-13, 1-2 LEC) has not defeated the Warriors (17-5, 6-1 LEC), who are receiving votes in the most recent D3baseball.com Top 25 poll, since March 30, 2019 – when they escaped with a 6-5 road win while batting as the home team.  This year, untimely mistakes and free bases have proven costly for KSC, and that was the story of the afternoon as the Owls fell to 4-11 on an opponent's home field this season.

A two-run home run for Jonathan Chatfield, his fifth of the season (all coming in the last 10 games), helped the Owls trim what had been a three-run deficit to 5-4 in the fifth, but KSC was doomed thanks to ugliness in the sixth and seventh innings.  Jake Jachym fired an important shutdown inning in the bottom of the fifth on just nine pitches, but the Owls went down in the sixth nearly as quickly, including striking out twice, against reliever AJ Rooks after whiffing eight times in five innings against ECSU starter Dan Driscoll.  The Warriors produced an immediate threat in the sixth when Ian Moser lined the second pitch from Nathan Pirog into the gap in right center for a leadoff double.  KSC's defense, which made four errors on the day, then helped aid the cause in the Warriors' three-run frame as Teige Kimbler then reached on a booted ground ball to second – subsequently stealing second to put two in scoring position.  Ray Leonzi then followed with a base hit and Hank Penders a sacrifice fly to make it 7-4.  The Warriors tacked on another when Pirog walked Michael Hernandez, who was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts, on five pitches with the bases loaded.

KSC managed a one-out baserunner in the seventh thanks to a second error by Hernandez – one of six Eastern Connecticut miscues on the day – but nothing more, and the crushing blow came in the bottom half as Camden Thomas walked Moser and Leonzi to go along with allowing a single to left by Kimbler to load the bases with one out.  Penders then cracked a pitch that leaked over the plate and was middle-middle over the right field fence for a grand slam to put his team up 12-4.

After Chatfield's home run brought the Owls within one, they did not record another hit until there was one out in the ninth.  KSC generated a small rally, getting within 12-5 with runners at second and third following a single by Tommy Ahlers.  They did make it 12-7, but one of the runs came in on a grounder to second for the second out and the other ECSU's sixth error.

The later innings remain trouble for KSC this season, as they have allowed 75 runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth – their three highest totals by inning and 46 percent of their total runs allowed in 21 games.  The Owls surrendered 17 hits to ECSU on the afternoon – including three-hit games for Leonzi, and Preston Cosme-Cruz – and have allowed an opponent to reach double-digit hits 14 times.  Opponents are also hitting .341 against the Owls with runners on base (KSC .278), .338 with runners in scoring position (KSC .289), and .475 (19-for-40) with the bases loaded (KSC 7-for-21).

KSC fell behind 1-0 in the first, but bounced back with a two-run, four-hit third inning to take the lead.  The Owls loaded the bases with nobody out on three straight infield singles by Hamilton Barnes, Luke Anderson, and Evan Cali, and Ahlers came through with a two-run single lofted into left.  KSC still had runners at first and second with one out, but Shea Zina struck out looking on a high curveball.  Chatfield worked a walk to load the bases again, but Lucas came up empty against Driscoll, striking out to keep it 2-1.

Eastern made the first two outs of the third on just six pitches, but KSC could not get a shutdown inning, as Alejandro Soriano doubled and Josh Cofrancesco followed with a game-tying RBI single to center.  Cosme-Cruz added a two-bagger of his own to put two in scoring position, and the Warriors retook the lead on a wild pitch by David Floyd in which Cosme-Cruz tried to score from second but was out by a wide margin at the plate.  Two more two-out runs in the fourth pushed KSC down three, and they ultimately never recovered.

Floyd started and pitched the first four innings, allowing 10 hits and five runs.  He did not walk anyone and struck out five while falling to 2-2.  KSC's bullpen walked four and struck out four over the final three innings.  On the season, their relievers have issued 51 free passes in 91.1 innings while their opponents' pens have combined to walk 28 in 79 innings.

Driscoll (4-0) got the win for ECSU, allowing four runs and six hits in five innings while walking two and striking out eight.

"I thought Floyd had some tough luck but pitched well," said Keene State head coach Justin Blood.  "We piled up some free nineties in the sixth and seventh, and they made us pay for them."

KSC has dropped their last two conference games after winning the opener.  The Owls entertain the University of Massachusetts-Boston, who they have lost 19 straight to and have not beaten since 2014, on Friday (April 11), on Friday for a conference doubleheader that starts at 12:00 p.m.