KEENE, N.H. – Freshman Trey Kuzmeski pitched 2.1 scoreless innings of relief to preserve a 5-5 tie, setting the stage for an Evan McCue walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the tenth as the Keene State College baseball team grinded out a 6-5 non-conference home win over Nichols College Wednesday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.

At one point 4-8, KSC (19-12) has now won 15 of their last 19 games and, with one more, can ensure their third consecutive season with at least 20 wins for the first time since 2010 through 2012.  That was in the midst of a stretch where the Owls made the NCAA tournament four times in six years and reached the regional final once, just missing out on a World Series trip.  Keene State knows the most important games of the season appear to be yet to come, and it will begin with a Saturday twinbill at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in which the Owls will not only look to fend off the third-place Corsairs but also keep pressure on first-place University of Southern Maine in the season's final seven days.

One of the biggest developments KSC will likely take out of today's win that moved them seven games over .500 is likely the relief work of three freshmen (Jayke Glidden, Evan LeVasseur, and Kuzmeski) who combined to allow two runs over the final seven innings without walking a batter against a streaky Bison (15-16) team that does have offensive capability, scoring nine or more runs 11 times this season.

Two of the most important outs of the game likely came with Kuzmeski on the mound, as he relieved LeVasseur with two on and two down in the eighth in a 5-5 game and whiffed Bryce Morrisette on three pitches.  Then in the tenth with the automatic runner placed on second, Kuzmeski fielded Tyler Ladoucer's sacrifice bunt with no problem and then got Julian Galvan to ground out to Trevor Snow at second with the infield in.  The Wilbraham & Monson product then fanned Jack Raymond swinging to set the Owls up with a golden chance in the bottom half.

The third chance proved to be the charm, as with Lucas Rogers serving as the automatic runner, Ethan Rainha did his job and pulled a grounder to second to advance him to third with one out.  Nichols then elected to intentionally walk Domminic Tagliaferro to set up the possible double play, but McCue – who entered at third in the ninth after Rocco Pavone pinch-ran for Anthony DiGiacomo in the eighth got the ball in the air to the opposite field plenty deep enough to score Rogers for the walk-off win.

It was a grinder of a win for KSC, who after taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a fielder's choice, a Rogers RBI single, and a Rainha sacrifice fly, found themselves trailing 5-3 in the sixth after going scoreless in four straight innings against Tony Abed and Carter Taillefer.  The Owls left the bases loaded in the fourth after Taillefer got Evan Cali to bounce back to him in the left-on-left matchup.  But after a 1-2-3 fifth, KSC got the Taillefer for a big pair of two-out runs in the sixth for a quick response.  Rainha walked to begin the inning, and after a pair of fly outs, Derek Finlay put two on with a single to center.  Snow, who finished 3-for-4 and is hitting .368 in 76 at bats in his sophomore campaign, then swatted a two-run double to tie it at five.

With LeVasseur and Kuzmeski handling Nichols' bats, it seemed on a few occasions the game would not need extras.  In the eighth, DiGiacomo poked a one-out single to center and got an extra base after the ball got past Andrew Rocca, but a grounder and a fly out prevented him from advancing any further.  The Owls had an even bigger chance in the bottom of the ninth when Cali and Jonathan Chatfield began the frame with singles, but a looking strikeout on a 3-2 pitch, a botched baserunning play where Cali ended up getting tagged out, and a bouncer to short snuffed out that rally.

It was Snow, the leadoff man, that got the Owls going quickly in the first, as he reached on an infield single to third and stole second ahead of Cali's base hit that extended his hitting streak to 14 straight.  Chatfield then reached on a fielder's choice in which the Bison did not get anybody out due to an errant throw to second, and that hurt further when Rogers and Rainha helped plate two more.  But Morrisette's two-out RBI single in Nichols' next trip to the plate helped the visitors answer, and an inning later the game was tied.

Snow is nine for his last 19 at the plate over the past five games and now has eight multi-hit efforts this season.

Kuzmeski got the win and improved to 3-1, while Jordan Medeiros (3-2) took the loss, allowing an unearned run while walking one and striking out one in 1.2 innings of work.

It was the first game in the all-time series between the two teams not played in Florida, as they played in Clearwater in 2004 and 2005 and in Auburndale in 2019 and 2020.

Keene State's doubleheader at UMD on Saturday will begin at noon, and is one of just four league games remaining.  Southern Maine, who dropped a non-conference road game at St. Joseph's College (Maine) today, is a half game ahead of the Owls for first place in the conference currently.  The Huskies host Vermont State University Castleton on Saturday, visit the University of Massachusetts-Boston next Tuesday, and then are home to take on Eastern Connecticut State University next Friday to close their league schedule while KSC takes on Western Connecticut State University on Senior Day at home next Friday in addition to their two games this Saturday.