KEENE, N.H. – Otis Follet smoked a grand slam in the sixth inning as part of his five RBI day while Evan Cali doubled and homered as part of a three-hit game where he also drove in five runs as the Keene State College baseball team pounded Vermont State University Castleton late, winning 15-4 in eight innings in a Little East Conference matchup on Tuesday at the Owl Athletic Complex.

KSC (18-12, 10-2 LEC), who has won 11 of their last 13 and 14 of their last 18, remains a half game behind the University of Southern Maine for first place – having split with the Huskies – and is a half game ahead of third-place University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.  All three teams won today, with USM (10-1 LEC) obliterating Plymouth State University for a season sweep with a 23-5 victory while UMass-Dartmouth (9-2 LEC), KSC's Saturday opponent on the road, downed UMass-Boston 4-1 on the road.  With just four conference games remaining, the Owls (and their group of 16 seniors) have their sights set on history, attempting to win the league regular season crown in back-to-back seasons for the first time since joining in 1997.

Today, despite Castleton (9-23, 3-8 LEC) drawing within a run on Justin Strozyk's two-run home run in the sixth, the Owls answered rapidly, as Evan McCue singled and Derek Finlay walked to begin the bottom half.  After a fly out by Trevor Snow advanced McCue to third, Cali followed up with a run-scoring single to make it 4-2 still with runners on the corners.  KSC was far from done, as Jake Waller walked the dangerous Jonathan Chatfield on five pitches to load the bases, and then saw Follet swat a grand slam that kept carrying into the trees beyond the right field fence for his third long ball of the season.  He now has 26 RBI on the season and is one of five Owls to have at least that many, paced by Chatfield's 36 and Cali 32.

KSC led 8-2 after six, and that would be more than enough offense to handle a Castleton team that was limited to just five hits by Mason Pingree and Troy Brennan after Camden Thomas tossed two hitless innings on 28 pitches.  The Owls, and Cali especially, kept piling on anyway, as the senior plated Snow and Finlay with a poke down the left field line for a two-run double to make it 10-2 in the seventh.  The Spartans got two back on the eighth on a KSC miscue, getting only one hit in the inning, but again were unable to slow the Owls' potent offense late.  Mitchell Coffey went the other way for an opposite field double to put two in scoring position with nobody out in that frame, and McCue followed with a two-run single into right that made it 12-4.  A passed ball on a one-out walk to Snow brought home another, and Cali then connected for his first home run of the season and the fifth of his career as a pseudo walk-off to send his team home happy early.  The Taunton, Mass. native – reigning LEC Player of the Week who recently became the 19th member of the 150 hit club – now has a hit in 14 straight games and has seen his average soar nearly 100 points to an impressive .380.

Working his way back from an injury, Thomas breezed through the first two frames and was credited with the win to improve to 2-0.  Pingree then covered the next four innings, allowing four hits and two runs with three walks and two strikeouts, while Brennan allowed two unearned runs in two innings with a walk and a strikeout.

Kyle Wilson (1-2) allowed three hits and one run over four innings while striking out two, and despite being his team's most effective pitcher, took the loss after allowing a run in the first as KSC took a lead they would never relinquish on Follet's single into left.  The Owls had their way with four Spartan relievers to the tune of 14 hits and eight walks.

Keene State has won four in a row in the series by a combined score of 55-12.  Entering their final two doubleheaders, the Owls are 27-5 in their last 32 conference games including last year's 4-0 tournament run.

KSC is right back at it tomorrow when they host Nichols College (15-15, 6-7 CNE) for a non-conference matchup at 3:00 p.m. before the important doubleheader at UMass-Dartmouth on Saturday.  The Owls' final league games of the season are next Friday (May 1) when they host Western Connecticut State University on Senior Day.