KEENE, N.H. – When the Keene State College baseball class of 2026 arrived on campus, they represented head coach
Justin Blood's first recruiting class with the program. They represented hope and potential, with the ultimate goal of becoming a contender again. Although they no doubt have more they would like to accomplish, Friday marked a moment to celebrate the 16 seniors that have helped spark KSC to a program resurgence. And they did so in style, as the Owls built double-digit leads within the first two innings of both contests, routing Western Connecticut State University 15-5 and 17-5 in a pair of run-rule shortened Little East Conference contests on Senior Day at the Owl Athletic Complex.
When the current seniors first stepped on campus, KSC (23-14, 13-3 LEC) was coming off a six-win campaign in 2022 and was searching for any sign of stability, winning just seven conference games combined between 2019 and 2022. Now? The Owls will enter this week's Little East tournament hosted by the University of Southern Maine with a 30-6 record in their last 36 league games including the postseason, aiming to defend their championship from a season ago. Keene State earned the No. 2 seed and will take on No. 5 seed University of Massachusetts-Boston on Wednesday afternoon at Ed Flaherty Field in Gorham, with the tournament to run through Saturday with all games hosted by the top-seeded Huskies. Keene State entered the day trailing USM by a game in the standings, but still had a chance to finish with the No. 1 seed depending on how doubleheaders between USM and Eastern Connecticut State University, and Vermont State University Castleton and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth played out. After KSC's bludgeoning in the opener coupled with Southern Maine's 10-3 loss to Eastern and Castleton's 6-5 win over UMass-Dartmouth that also clinched the Spartans the No. 6 seed, it seemed the top seed path became even more realistic, as the Owls needed one of those two teams to complete a sweep. Both losing teams bounced back, however, as Southern Maine won 19-8 in eight innings and UMass-Dartmouth took down Castleton 10-7 on the road, leaving KSC with the second seed but still a share of the Little East Conference regular season championship – tied with USM at 13-3. It marks the Owls' fifth league crown in the regular season, joining 2006 (shared), 2008, 2010 (shared), and 2025.
Now, after a non-conference game at No. 4 ranked Salve Regina University – who KSC dropped a 5-0 decision to in last year's NCAA tournament opener – all attention will shift for the senior class and the rest of the team to try to repeat in the conference tournament for the first time in program history.
If Friday is any indication, KSC will head into it with plenty of offensive momentum, as they torched WestConn (11-24, 3-13 LEC) in two games that rapidly turned into runaways. In the opener, the Owls set the tone for ultimately the entire day when they scored eight times on eight hits in the bottom of the first, including an RBI triple by
Derek Finlay that put KSC on the board first. They were
far from done, as the next four reached on three singles and a walk to make it 3-0.
Lucas Rogers came through with the biggest swing of the frame, a bases clearing triple with three on to make it 7-0.
Trevor Snow, who led off with a double, then added a sacrifice fly in the frame to bring home another. Rogers recorded his fourth and fifth RBI of the first two innings with his two-run double to left in the second that left him a homer and a single shy of the cycle to make it 10-0, and Snow kept the offensive assault going with a run-scoring base hit of his own to make it 11-0.
WestConn was unable to slow KSC's offense all day, as the home team put up two more in the second to answer the visitors' two runs in the top half, and a sacrifice fly in the fourth by
Jonathan Chatfield made it 14-2. The Owls ended it early with a pair of two out hits in the bottom of the seventh as
Quin Barton, a senior who had doubled to begin the fifth, singled with two outs to move
Emmett Borenstein (leadoff hit by pitch) to second before
Anthony DiGiacomo poked an RBI single up the middle into center. KSC finished with a whopping 20 hits on the game, including three each for Snow (3-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R), Chatfield (3-3, 2 RBI, 2 R), and DiGiacomo (3-5, RBI, R). Four others added two hits, including
Derek Finlay, Rogers,
Domminic Tagliaferro, and Barton.
Staked to a big lead,
David Floyd threw 49 pitches and got through three innings for the Owls, allowing two runs while walking two and striking out two in what could be his final home start.
Camden Thomas (2-0) allowed two runs over two relief innings before
Daniel Cantafi tossed the last two.
Among the highlights of the opener and of the day, KSC got
Hamilton Barnes – forced to miss the entire season due to an injury – an appearance in the outfield, as he entered to begin the top of the third and then was able to be shown appreciation by his teammates and fans as he came back off the field after Floyd's intentional pitchout.
The Owls hit around Quinn McGuire (1-3) and handed him his worst start of the season, lasting just 1.2 innings while allowing 11 runs.
KSC did not relent in the nightcap, tattooing Braden Barron (3-3) to the tune of 10 hits and 12 runs over the opening two innings as they cruised to a sweep. The Owls clubbed three home runs, including a mammoth two-run no doubt shot to right off the bat of
Otis Follet in the second that made it 11-0. Rainha went deep for the second time of the season at home (grand slam against Southern Maine) with a two-run shot in the fourth, and
Luke Anderson pulled a solo shot in the fourth as KSC took a 15-1 lead and had 14 hits over the first four innings. As that might indicate, a lot happened before the home runs also. Chatfield got the Owls on the board with an RBI double in the first, and Cali added a run-scoring single two batters later to make it 2-0. After
Jake Jachym got out of a two-on, nobody out jam in the second by getting a fly ball by Joe Fasano and a 4-6-3 double play by Anthony Marsala, KSC exploded for a 10-spot in the bottom half in which they sent 14 batters to the plate. A pair of walks and a single set the table and loaded the bases with nobody out, and the top of the order cashed in, as Snow stroked a two-run single into left to double the lead to 4-0. Finlay, the very next batter, then plated two more with another triple to make it a six-run advantage, and KSC kept going, going up 7-0 on a double down the left field line that was just fair by Tagliaferro. After Barron finally got the first out of the inning, Rainha pulled a base hit into right for a 9-0 lead and Follet followed with his towering blast to right. A walk to McCue spelled the end of an ugly day for Barron, and Snow then worsened his line further even after he left with an RBI double.
Rainha went deep in the third as KSC went yard in consecutive innings to balloon their lead to a football-like 14-0, and Rainha's long ball was the third in as many frames.
Rocco Pavone added his first two runs batted in at home and second and third of his young career in the sixth to push the lead to 17-4.
Jachym (1-2) pitched four innings of one-run ball and got the win in the run-rule shortened game, striking out four.
Joe Schlehuber,
Kyle Palardy, and
Troy Brennan – all seniors – got to cover the final three outs in the seventh, with Palardy getting two of the outs including a three-pitch whiff.
With one game left in the regular season, the Owls are hitting .334 as a team with a .905 OPS (.103 higher than their opponents). That batting average would still mark the third-highest by a KSC team in a single-season in program history, behind only 2009 (.370) and 2008 (.357) – all good company this senior class has helped the Owls rejoin, with KSC making the NCAA tournament four times in a six-year span back then including the regional final once in the old tournament format.
The Owls' regular season finale at Salve Regina (31-4, 12-2 CNE) will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday (May 3). KSC is 3-3 at Reynolds Field all-time. The Seahawks host Emerson College, last place in the NEWMAC, on Saturday before hosting the Owls Sunday. Salve is currently No. 3 in the most recent NCAA Power Index (NPI) rankings used to select the tournament field. The LEC has three teams in the top 150 (of 378 teams total), with Southern Maine at No. 38, Eastern Connecticut at No. 81, and KSC at No. 101, as of April 30. The Owls are 5-4 against teams ahead of them in the rankings but were hurt by their 4-8 start in which they lost three one-run games and one by two. They are 17-6 since, though, and will soon focus on trying to add another trophy to their case.
