TROY, N.Y. – Jonathan Chatfield got the Keene State College baseball team going in the first, gave them the lead again in the sixth, and blew the game open in the seventh as the Owls went on to post a comfortable 11-7 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the first of two non-conference games Sunday at Karl Steffen Ballpark.  KSC allowed six runs in the final two innings in the nightcap, unable to reach .500 as they fell 10-3.

Looking to figure out how to gain momentum after a rough trip to California followed by a narrow loss to Middlebury College on Wednesday after the Owls (4-6) led 4-1, the day's opener – and more specifically who took the mound – could offer hope to that fact as senior captain David Floyd fired a 1-2-3 first on 11 pitches with two looking strikeouts in his first appearance of the season after coming back from an injury.

After scoring a pair in the opening inning, KSC made it 3-0 in the second after Luke Anderson poked a single into left and worked his way around the bases on a grounder to the pitcher and an error.  RPI (6-6) rallied, getting within a run in the third after an ugly defensive inning for the Owls culminated with a two-run miscue.  KSC took a 4-2 lead in the fifth when Chatfield lined a double into the left center gap and scored after singles from Otis Follet and Anthony DiGiacomo, but an RBI double by Alex Coombes and a run-scoring single by Ben Belliss in the bottom half of the inning tied the game at four.

But Keene State had a major response, hammering RPI relievers Dutch Hamilton and Dylan Chan to retake command.  The sixth began with infield hits for Evan Cali and Derek Finlay before Hamilton entered in relief of starter Garret Gates and walked pinch-hitter Domminic Tagliaferro to load the bases.  Chatfield then came through again with a base hit to right for a 5-4 KSC lead and Evan McCue tacked on another with a sacrifice fly.  Jake Jachym then tossed a nine-pitch 1-2-3 sixth for a big shutdown inning, and Chatfield pummeled a 2-2 pitch with two down in the seventh for a three-run blast in the seventh that made it 9-4.  Cali doubled with one out to begin the uprising and Tagliaferro worked another walk with two down to set the stage for KSC's slugger to come through.
Jachym kept rolling from there, working around a one-out double in the bottom half by striking out Danny Nayvelt and Coombes.  Anderson and Cali added RBI base hits in the eighth to make it 11-4 as the Owls pounded out 14 hits in a comfortable win at a venue they have not played well at since 2022 – winning just one time (the second game of last season's doubleheader).

With the prearranged pitching decision of having Floyd (1-0) only go an inning, he was credited with the win.  Jachym went the next 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs (three earned) while walking two and striking out five.

Gates (1-2) was not terribly effective for RPI, allowing eight hits and six runs (five earned) in five-plus innings.  He walked two, hit three, and struck out four.

Chatfield finished 4-for-6 with the home run and two doubles while driving in five runs, while Cali (4-6, 2B, RBI, R) also had a four-hit game out of the top spot in the order.  DiGiacomo (2-4, RBI, HBP) and Anderson (2-5, RBI, 2 R) also had multi-hit efforts.  Walker Abdallah led RBI with a 3-for-5 effort, which included a double and two runs.  Michael Lebenson had a pair of hits including a home run in the eighth that made it 11-5.

If KSC was aiming to build momentum immediately after the return of one of their injured arms, it was at least temporarily foiled with an ugly second game in which the Owls went from a 2-2 tie entering the bottom of the fifth to a 10-3 loss.  KSC took a momentary lead in the top of the third on an RBI single by Tagliaferro and a sacrifice fly by McCue, but a pair of sacrifice flies gave RPI the lead back (3-2).  Coombes tacked on an RBI single to make it 4-2 through five as starter Mason Pingree was lifted in that frame.  Mitchell Coffey cashed in Trevor Snow's leadoff triple in the sixth to quickly get the Owls back within 4-3 and Trey Kuzmeski then fired a 1-2-3 sixth to get KSC right back to the plate, but things went south from there.  Cali did lead off the inning with a hit but advanced no further, and a single, error, and hit batter put the Owls in immediate trouble in a close game in the seventh.  Kuzmeski got Abdallah to ground right back to the mound for the first out of the inning before being lifted for Troy Brennan.  KSC elected to walk Andrew Crux intentionally with one out to set up a force at any base, but an infield single and an error on consecutive plays made it 6-3.  Lebenson then followed with a back-breaking two-run double to make it a five-run game, and the Owls could not overcome their defensive mistakes – now with 24 errors in 10 games (double the number of their opponents).  After entering the inning within a run, KSC ended it down 9-3 and did not get another baserunner after that, including striking out three times in the eighth against Sam Ferrier.  The Owls whiffed 10 times in the nightcap and struck out RPI only twice after fanning the Engineers 10 times in the opener.

Coffey was the lone multi-hit effort for KSC, who had just five hits, finishing 2-for-4.  Eight of nine batters in the RPI order recorded hits, including a pair of hits for three of the top four in their order (Abdallah, Coombes, and Belliss).  The three through six spots accounted for eight of their nine runs batted in.

Pingree (0-2) took the loss, going 4.1 innings and allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits with one walk.  Kuzmeski and Kyle Palardy combined to allow one run over the next two innings to keep KSC in it for the moment.

Mike Nelson (1-1) walked six in five innings but ultimately allowed just two runs and two hits to get the win for RPI.  The Engineers' bullpen trio of Andrew Gaughan, Ferrier, and Zac Zajac struck out seven and allowed just one run over the final three innings.

"It was good to see David Floyd back on the mound and Jake Jachym pitched well in the first game," said KSC head coach Justin Blood.  "Cali, Chatfield, and DiGiacomo led us offensively and we made enough plays to secure the win.  Game two was well-played until a couple defensive miscues did us in late.  Way too many swings and misses offensively never allowed us to put enough pressure on them.  We need some pitchers and defenders to step up in key moments."

Keene State continues their early season tour of the country this week, adding another state to their list as they travel to the Philadelphia area to take on Arcadia University for a single game on Tuesday (March 17) at 3:30 p.m. before a doubleheader on Wednesday.  The Knights are just 4-6 to begin 2026, but lost to then-No. 4 Salisbury University 3-2 on March 1 and then-No. 7 Kean University 4-2 on March 4.  Arcadia went 33-14 in 2024 and made the NCAA tournament before finishing 29-17 last year and winning the MAC Commonwealth tournament to return to the national stage.