KEENE, N.H. – Luke Anderson broke a scoreless tie with a clutch two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the seventh as the Keene State College baseball team went on to post a 6-1 victory over the University of Southern Maine in the second game of a Little East Conference doubleheader Saturday at the Owl Athletic Complex.  The Huskies took the first game 19-6, temporarily taking a two-game lead in the conference before KSC shrunk it back to one.

The Owls improved to 13-11 with the win and are 7-2 in the conference, trailing the Huskies (17-5, 8-1 LEC) by one game.  KSC's win in the nightcap nullified a clear head-to-head tiebreaker for USM, at least for now, with seven conference games to go for each team.  En route to their regular season and conference tournament championships a season ago, the Owls were the only team in the LEC to sweep Southern Maine – winning 14-8 and 12-2 (8) in Keene in mid-April.  KSC, who has won five of the last six in the series, also ended the Huskies' season with a 4-0 win on the second day of the postseason tournament.

As of now, it would seem this very well might not be the last time the two teams meet this season.  And if it is not, KSC will at least head into any future hypothetical meeting coming off a combined four-hitter from David Floyd (2-0) and Troy Brennan, who ended USM's eight-game winning streak and cooled off a scorching offense that had scored at least 17 runs in six of their previous seven games.

Floyd had to work out of trouble early, some of it not his own doing, as the Huskies stranded five in the opening two innings despite not getting a hit.  Two of the first three whiffed in the second as USM flailed the KSC senior's breaking pitches most of the day, but Hunter Brissette – the third strikeout victim of the inning – reached on a wild pitch to put two on and extend the inning.  Evan Baschnagel then walked, the only real blemish on Floyd's impressive line being the four free passes (two in the opening two innings), to load the bases, but KSC got out of it when Kyle Douin flied to center.

The Owl senior captain and leader on the mound then settled down from there, rolling through the middle innings including getting a double play ball from Peter Keblinsky to face the minimum in the fifth.  Caleb Vacchiano seemed like he set up USM with a golden chance to break the 0-0 deadlock in the sixth when he doubled to the left center gap to begin the frame, but Floyd retired three of the next four and did not allow him to advance.

Although USM could not solve Floyd, the Owls were also having a devil of a time with Gabe Gifford, who was rolling along and allowed only two runners into scoring position through the first five innings.  Evan Cali got KSC's first hit with two outs in the bottom of the second before stealing second and moving to third on a wild pitch, but he was left there.  He also reached on a fielder's choice in the fifth before stealing second but got no further.  The Owls finally generated a more promising chance in the sixth when Derek Finlay poked a double to center with one out and moved to third on Lucas Rogers' infield single to short – but still came up empty, as Gifford got Jonathan Chatfield to strike out after an eight-pitch at bat and Otis Follet popped to short.

Floyd tossed a strong 1-2-3 inning on 12 pitches in the seventh to cap off another strong effort, and KSC again had runners at the corners with one out in the bottom half following Domminic Tagliaferro's double and an infield single by Ethan Rainha.  Gifford seemed like he might have been poised to skyrocket the Owls' frustration after he got Evan McCue swinging, but Anderson came through in a huge spot with the biggest hit of the day – an opposite field line drive double over the head of a sprawling Carter Higgins in left.  A dominant day for Gifford now turned into him departing on the hook.

Owls head coach Justin Blood then turned to Brennan out of the bullpen, who entered in a save situation in the eighth.  He quickly took care of Keblinsky on four pitches for a strikeout, but Caleb Vacchiano then took a 2-2 pitch deep to center that just kept carrying to make it 2-1 and Higgins followed with a double in the same general direction to suddenly and quickly put the tying run into scoring position.  But any nail-biting was quelled by Brennan, who ended up striking out the side and had five in his two innings of work, and KSC tacked on four in the eighth to gain some breathing room.  The rally began with Chatfield pulling a ground ball single into right with one out, and Follet followed with a double to put the Owls in business, with USM then electing to intentionally walk Tagliaferro.  The move nearly worked, but Chris Quigley airmailed a throw home on Cali's ground ball to third to allow two KSC runs to score to make it 4-1.  A wild pitch then plated Tagliaferro, and Rainha brought home Cali to give the Owls a 6-1 advantage.

Keene State became just the third team to hold Southern Maine to fewer than five runs in a game this season, with their five-run loss today representing their second-largest margin of defeat this season.

Floyd improved to 2-0, allowing just two hits in seven innings while walking four and whiffing six.  Brennan allowed two hits and a run while fanning five to earn his first save this season.
Gifford (1-2) had a career-day, allowing six hits and two runs in 6.2 innings while striking out 11.

Rainha finished 2-for-4 offensively for KSC, who hit four doubles (Finlay, Follet, Tagliaferro, Anderson).  Vacchiano doubled and homered in a 2-for-4 effort for USM.

Rainha tried to spark a big Owl rally in what ended up being an ugly loss in the opener, hitting a grand slam with nobody out in the sixth as KSC halved a 10-0 deficit to 10-5.  However, the game unraveled completely on KSC over the seventh and eighth innings as Southern Maine scored nine times while also getting seven free baserunners (four walks, three hit batters).  That came on the heels of scoring nine runs in a single inning (the second) as the Owls were stung and put on their heels very early in an important doubleheader.  The game-altering frame did not begin with loud contact, as Higgins walked and Mike Anquillare singled to second.  Kaden Morin then popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt, but the inning unraveled from there.  Douin's two-run double made it 3-0 before Jake Jachym got Keblinsky to ground to third.  A walk and a hit by pitch put KSC in further trouble, though, and a two-run single by Higgins and a two-run triple by Anquillare suddenly made it 9-0.

The Owls awoke in the sixth, seeing the first four reach before Rainha tattooed a grand slam to right, but Colin McDonald then set down the next three in order to prevent a huge inning.  Southern Maine got all four runs right back in the seventh, and then piled on five more in the eighth.

McDonald (6-0) allowed six hits and five runs while walking three and striking out six to pick up the win.

Jachym (0-1) allowed six hits and eight runs in 1.2 innings, walking three and whiffing two.

Rainha finished with two hits and drove in four while Chatfield was 3-for-4, but KSC was outhit 18-10.

Douin finished 5-for-6 with five RBI while Anquillare was 4-for-5 and also drove in five.

The Owls host Wheaton College (Mass.) for a non-conference game tomorrow (Sunday, April 12) at 12:00 p.m.