FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Last year, the Keene State College baseball team won their first Little East Conference championship since the 34-11 team of 2008 raised the trophy on their home field. Now, another season later, the Owls have their next accomplishment to match that season – a 3-0 start. KSC will venture back north on the heels of a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, as they used a seven-run fourth inning to roll to a 9-5 win in the opener before scoring one in the ninth and two in the tenth to win a back-and-forth nightcap 8-6 at Armstrong-Shelley Field.
The win in the second contest had to taste extra sweet for the Owls, who answered the bell after the Monarchs (2-8) – who trailed for most of the weekend – scored four in the seventh and one in the eighth to erase a 5-1 deficit and take a one-run lead to the ninth. But KSC put immediate pressure on the hosts, as Chatfield laced a base hit up the middle off Clay Pridgen to start the ninth. Pinch-runner
Rocco Pavone then stole second and was sacrificed to third by
Domminic Tagliaferro before
Anthony DiGiacomo came up with a big game-tying base hit to left. Freshman
Evan LeVasseur, who authored an impressive collegiate debut, struck out two to strand Methodist's leadoff single in the bottom half, and KSC's offense went to work again in the tenth as
Derek Finlay laced a one-out, go-ahead double to plate
Otis Follet, who began the inning at second.
Evan McCue added an RBI single for an insurance run as the Owls carried an 8-6 lead to the bottom of the tenth looking for the three-game sweep.
LeVasseur (1-0) took it from there, easily working around a one-out walk to post a win in his collegiate debut, finishing with four strikeouts while allowing just one hit and one free pass in 2.2 high-leverage innings.
His effort came on the heels of a strong start by fellow rookie
Jayke Glidden, who fired five innings of one-run ball in his debut as an Owl, striking out four.
Just as they were in their first two wins, KSC seemed to be in firm command, as they opened the scoring on hot-hitting
Lucas Rogers' RBI double to left in the third and then took a 3-0 lead when Finlay launched his first career home run in the fourth. The Monarchs got one back in the bottom half, but Finlay's small ball helped produce a run in the sixth and
Evan McCue then added an RBI single later in the frame to make it 5-1.
KSC carried that lead into the seventh, but the Monarchs got to
Dylan Ellison, as two singles and a sacrifice bunt put two in scoring position before Blake Freeman singled to left and Keegan Megaro sacrificed home a run to make it 5-3. It was somewhat of an odd decision to play small ball trailing by three, but it worked out when the next batter, Parker Evans launched a game-tying homer to left to make it 5-5. The Owls went down in order in the eighth, a rare feat on a weekend in which they hit over .350 as a team, and then found themselves trailing 6-5 in the bottom half when Kade Bell doubled to lead off the inning, moved to third on another sacrifice bunt, and scored on Brandon Mauger's RBI single. LeVasseur entered with three on and one out and the Owls trailing by one but induced a fielder's choice to cut down the runner at home for the second out and then fanned Evans – two outs that proved huge in the end.
Pridgen (0-2) took the loss for the Monarchs, allowing four hits and three runs (two earned) in 4.1 innings while striking out three.
Glidden,
Sean Egan, and LeVasseur combined to strike out 11.
KSC's win in the nightcap came after they cruised in the opener, using a seven-run, five-hit fourth to blow a 1-1 game open quickly. The uprising began with another hit for Rogers – who had seven in 14 at bats and five RBI on the weekend – before Follet walked and
Ethan Rainha singled into right to load the bases.
Mitchell Coffey then came through with the swing of the game, a three-run triple to center to put the Owls in front 4-1.
Luke Anderson followed with a bunt base hit to make it 5-1, and after two walks and an RBI groundout, Rogers put an exclamation point on the inning with a two-run double to the right center gap to put the Owls in front 8-1. Keene State battered Methodist starter Presley Patterson (1-2), who allowed six hits and eight runs in just 3.1 innings. He walked five and struck out three.
The offensive support was more than enough for
Kyle Palardy (1-0) and
George Young, who needed a combined 75 pitches to get through the final 5.2 innings. Palardy allowed two hits and a run while walking one and striking out one in 2.2 frames to get the win before Young got a save for tossing the final three innings. The duo relieved rookie
Mason Pingree, who allowed two runs in 3.1 innings while issuing three free passes and striking out two. Pingree picked off Israel Ortiz to end his first collegiate inning of work and then notched his first strikeout when he froze Golemo in the second.
The Owls carried an 8-3 lead into the sixth and then tacked on another in the ninth before the Monarchs got a two-run double when they were down to their final out.
"I am happy with the start for sure," said KSC head coach
Justin Blood. "We had a number of guys get opportunities and they all did a great job. Pingree and Glidden did not look like freshmen making their first starts. LeVasseur handled a high-leverage situation extremely well. We swung the bats well and created offense in a number of ways. To be without three of our most reliable pitchers from last year and sweep is a testament to our depth."
KSC hammered Methodist's pitching staff all weekend, posting a .915 team OPS while having five different players drive in at least three runs.
The Owls will travel to the other side of the country for next weekend's excursion, beginning with a single game against California Lutheran University (8-3, 3-0 SCIAC) on Friday, March 6 at 5:00 p.m. ET.
