AMBLER, Pa. – The Keene State College baseball team seemed to be in a reasonable position to split with non-conference foe Arcadia University this afternoon after they scored nine runs in a three-inning span to turn a 5-3 deficit into a 12-5 lead.  However, it took the Knights just one inning to erase the Owls' work and they eventually scored two late runs to post a 14-12 victory to sweep the doubleheader at Skip Wilson Field.  Arcadia, with two huge innings, also took the seven-inning opener 11-7.

It was a long day for KSC (4-8), who has dropped eight of their last nine games and has allowed double-digit runs in five of their last eight games.  They enter Saturday's scheduled Little East Conference-opening doubleheader void of momentum, allowing 35 runs in a three-game losing streak since their 11-7 victory at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the opening game of a Sunday's doubleheader.  The Owls are hitting a solid .307 as a team with a near .400 on-base percentage but have allowed opponents to hit .354 with 30 doubles and 11 home runs over the season's first 12 games.

Keene State had the bats going today, too, taking a 3-2 lead in the opener as they responded quickly to Arcadia's two-run first as Mitchell Coffey, Otis Follet, and Ethan Rainha began the second with three straight singles.  Derek Finlay added a game-tying single two batters later, and Evan Cali's fielder's choice grounder put the Owls ahead for the first time.  KSC stranded two in the second to stay in front and Dylan Ellison tossed a 1-2-3 third with three groundouts, but an interminable fourth doomed them.  The frame began innocuously enough, with a walk and a bunt single, but quickly snowballed as Kevin Wheeler hit the left center gap with a two-run double to put Arcadia back in front.  A sacrifice bunt moved Wheeler to third, but he would have scored regardless when Max Oswald launched a two-run homer to make it 6-3.  The Owls got the second out on a Solomon Abdullah fly ball with a runner on the second still down three, but the Knights scored five times the next seven consecutive batters reached.  Eric Shandler's two-run single made it 9-3, and the final two runs came across after two hit batters and a walk with the bases loaded.  Keene State allowed 13 free baserunners, walking 10 with five strikeouts, in the game.

Down 11-3, the Owls chipped their deficit to 11-6 on Cali's RBI single in the sixth that also plated a second run after a miscue, but the nine-run fourth was too much to crawl back from.  Follet doubled with KSC down to their last out to get the Owls within four, but a grounder to third ended the game.

Ellison (0-2) took the loss, allowing two hits and three runs in 2.1 innings, walking four and striking out two.  Follet and Domminic Tagliaferro each had multi-hit efforts.

Gavin Kincs improved to 3-1 with three one-hit innings in relief of Hunter Dicarlantonio.

In the second game, KSC took an early lead on a three-run blast from Jonathan Chatfield but allowed a five-run first to fall behind.  The visitors had a big response and it seemed like they might be on their way to a big number when they scored six in the third to go up 10-5 and tacked on two more in the fourth.  But the lead was gone by the end of the fourth, as Arcadia tied it 12-12, and the Owls could not get much going as the game went on, striking out six times in the final five innings.  Still tied, the first two of the sixth reached on walks, but Dylan Rasco struck out the next two batters and got a ground ball to second to escape any threat.  Tagliaferro reached on a dropped fly ball to begin the seventh, but a double play followed.  Chatfield, who had a four-hit effort (nearly half of KSC's ten hits) that included a home run and a double, singled with two down to put a runner back on first, but another strikeout ended the inning.  Taro Pustilnik led off the seventh with a solo shot on a 2-2 pitch to put Arcadia back in front 13-12, and the Knights' bullpen combo of Rasco and Jadon Dormer (1-0) combined to allow just two hits and two walks over the final six innings, whiffing seven.  KSC did have the tying run aboard with one out in the eighth after Evan McCue's single, but he advanced no further, and an RBI single in the bottom half gave the home team a two-run lead to the ninth.  The Owls went down in order in their final ups and suffered another frustrating defeat, unable to turn 11 walks and a hit batter from the Knights' pitching staff into a win.

KSC is averaging 6.5 runs per game in their losses.

Trey Kuzmeski (0-1) took the loss, allowing one hit and two runs to go along with a walk.

Dormer (1-1) needed just 34 pitches to eat up the final three innings for Arcadia, who entered the day having won three of four games after beginning the season 1-5.  The Knights went 29-17 a season ago, winning the MAC Freedom tournament before going 1-2 in an NCAA regional.

"Our coaching staff has to be better, we clearly aren't getting these guys prepared well enough," said Keene State head coach Justin Blood.  "I take the blame and will work with coaches and athletes to make the necessary changes."

The Owls, who have played games in North Carolina, California, Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania over the season's first three weeks, are scheduled to visit Rhode Island College (1-6) for an LEC doubleheader on Saturday (March 21) at 12:00 p.m.  The Anchormen have also struggled from the mound early in the season, pitching to an 8.23 ERA while losing six of seven.