SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Freshman Mason Pingree picked up his first collegiate win with a strong six-inning effort and was backed by five multi-hit games from a red-hot offense as the Keene State College baseball team used an eight-run third inning to blow past Western New England University 11-4 at Trelease Park in non-conference action Wednesday afternoon.

The Owls (9-10) have now scored double-digit runs in four straight games and have won five of seven overall since a 4-8 start.  Today, their offensive output came from a number of different sources – including a bottom of the order (six through nine spots) that combined for nine of their 15 hits.  Ethan Rainha, who finished with a team-high three RBI after returning from an injury, had one of the bigger swings in an eight-run third inning that turned the game into an early runaway.  The frame began with singles by Derek Finlay and Trevor Snow, who had four hits in six at bats out of the leadoff spot, and Lucas Rogers followed by taking a walk to load the bases with nobody out.  Jonathan Chatfield, who stung the ball later in the game despite not recording a hit, then walked on four pitches as KSC took a 2-1 lead, and they were far from done.  Two batters later, Evan Cali smoked a two-run double into the right center gap for a 5-1 lead, and that spelt the end of the day for Western New England (10-9) starter Aiden Bisaillon.  KSC kept going, though, getting an infield single from Anthony DiGiacomo to put runners on the corners with still one out.  DiGiacomo then took second and came home when Rainha lined a two-run double into right center to make it 7-1.  Alec Varano and Snow each added run-scoring hits later in the inning as the Owls sent 14 batters to the plate.
The offensive support was more than enough for Pingree (1-2), who allowed an early run and three hits in the first but was then dominant, allowing just two hits over his final five innings.  He whiffed a career-high seven and over his last 11 innings has allowed just four earned runs and two walks while striking out 12.  As a staff on the day, the Owls walked just one and struck out 11 while posting their third win in the all-time series in their last four tries.

WNE put up three in the seventh after Pingree departed to make it 9-4, but the Owls answered with a run in the eighth on Brice Waldron's RBI double that scored Matt Silk and Emmett Borenstein plated Rocco Pavone with a run-scoring groundout in the ninth to prevent any remote chance at a comeback.  George Young then whiffed two in a scoreless bottom half and got Andrew Florek to ground to first to end the win as KSC begins a stretch of games on three consecutive days.

"I thought Mason threw the ball extremely well today, pitched off his fastball a lot more than he has in previous starts," said Owls head coach Justin Blood.  "We got a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys, including a couple guys in the lineup that had not started in a while – Varano, Rainha – and then a couple guys off the bench that got some RBIs late to help secure the win – Waldron, Emmett Borenstein, and Emmett had a great defensive play that got us out of that inning where they scratched a couple runs back.  So a good win against a solid team and back after it tomorrow against Westfield."

Snow (4-6, RBI, R, SB), DiGiacomo (2-3, BB), Rainha (2-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R), Varano (2-5, RBI), and Finlay all had multi-hit efforts for KSC, who also stole four bases.  The Owls are hitting .337 as a team 19 games into the season.

Bisaillon (0-1) took the loss for the Golden Bears, allowing five hits and six runs in 2.1 innings, walking two.  WNE was also limited to just one extra-base hit.  Six of their nine hits came in their two run-scoring innings, including three in the first as they took a 1-0 lead on Corey Kilroy's RBI single that was quickly erased.

The Owls return home tomorrow (Thursday, April 2) to take on Westfield State University (5-14) at 3:00 p.m. before taking on Plymouth State University in a Little East Conference doubleheader on Friday, April 3 beginning at noon.  KSC will play as the visiting team on their home field that day, with the games originally having been scheduled to be in Plymouth on Saturday.