NEWPORT, R.I. – The Keene State College baseball team scored a run in each of the first two innings to jump out to a two-run lead, but saw fourth-ranked Salve Regina answer by scoring in three straight innings including a six-run fourth to pull away as the Owls fell 14-7 to the Seahawks at Reynolds Field in the regular season finale for both teams.
KSC, which has had a season full of streaks – winning three in a row, losing eight of nine, winning 16 of 20, and will now enter the Little East Conference tournament slated to begin Wednesday 3-3 in their last six games. They still did enough to earn a share of the regular season league championship and will be the No. 2 seed, but unquestionably, people within the program likely understand what is at stake this week – a chance to repeat as conference champions, something no other group of baseball Owls has yet accomplished. It is also likely their only path to an NCAA tournament berth, where they would like to draw upon their experiences last year in the regional – which ironically enough began against Salve Regina (34-4) on the campus of Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg. Behind a commanding effort by Brayden Clark, the Seahawks took that game 5-0.
It was a different game today, with KSC getting offense right away, taking a 1-0 lead eight pitches in as
Trevor Snow launched a triple to center and scored on
Derek Finlay's two-strike RBI single.
Trey Kuzmeski then pitched a scoreless first, working around two walks, and another leadoff hit – this time a double from
Domminic Tagliaferro – in the second helped produce another run for the visitors, as the Owls went up 2-0 on
Lucas Rogers' RBI single.
But KSC's arms struggled from there, walking two of the first three batters in the second with an errant pickoff attempt mixed in. Salve eventually got on the board with a fielder's choice grounder that provided the second out before a steal, error, and RBI single by Danny Rogers tied it at two.
Daniel Cantafi whiffed Shane Williams to keep it there, but a leadoff free pass in the third proved costly when Dylan Cimini followed by cracking a two-run homer to give his team their first lead. They would not look back early, as singles by Jake Harring and Elliot Hamilton later led to a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2.
Evan Cali responded by lofting his own home run to right to begin the third, but KSC stranded Rogers – who singled later in the inning – and then saw Salve put up six more in the fourth to take an 11-3 lead. The inning began with Rogers singling into right center, and snowballed in a hurry, as Williams followed with a run-scoring double.
Dylan Ellison then walked Brady Smolinski on four pitchers before Cimini greeted
Evan LeVasseur with a single into eight center to make it 7-3. After the Owls finally got the first out, Harring subsequently posted a run-scoring double to bring home another before Hamilton walked on seven pitches – one of eight free passes issued on the day by KSC. A ground out by Grady Shopps softly hit to second delivered another run, and Matt Stokes then came up with a two-out, two-run double to worsen the inning further for the Owls.
Keene State's offense had plenty of chances on the day – and ultimately 11 hits – but was ultimately chasing too big of a hole. It seemed the Owls were threatening for a huge inning in the fifth when Snow singled and stole second before Dominic Carollo walked three consecutive hitters including
Otis Follet to force home a run and make it 11-4 with still the bases loaded and nobody out, but they would score just once more – on a Cali grounder to first – and still trailed by six.
Troy Brennan did fire a 1-2-3 fifth to keep momentum on KSC's side, but the Owls went down in four batters in the sixth against James Keating and then surrendered a two-out, two-run double by Rogers in the bottom half to trail 13-5. Keene State scored a run on an
Anthony DiGiacomo RBI single in the eighth and still had two on with one down could not push any other runs across. Salve got the run right back on an error (one of three for KSC) and a groundout and did more than enough damage to run their winning streak to seven and improved to 13-1 at home. The Seahawks had played 23 innings of baseball less than 24 hours prior in their road doubleheader at Emerson College (played in Waltham), avoiding a major scare by escaping the last-place Lions (6-25, 2-13 NEWMAC) in 14 innings before taking the second game 13-3.
Salve has only allowed eight runs or more in a game six times this season and is 2-4 in those games, but KSC could not quite get to that mark and was hurt by issuing eight walks and making three errors.
"We got off to a good start offensively and swung the bats pretty well all day," said Owls head coach
Justin Blood. "We did not pitch nearly well enough to beat a good Salve offense. We did not get ahead in the count and did not finish when we got to two strikes."
In last year's LEC title run and in the NCAA tournament, KSC's pitching rounded into form and was a big catalyst for their success, including allowing six runs in four conference tournament games – winning 12-1, 4-0, 7-4, and 2-1. This year, they have proven that when they get such outings, they can have immense success – as evidenced by their 22-4 record when allowing fewer than eight runs.
Daniel Cantafi (1-1) took the loss today, allowing four hits and three runs in an inning of work after taking over for Kuzmeski.
Keating (3-0) was by far Salve's most effective pitcher, striking out five while allowing three hits and one run over three relief innings.
Rogers finished 5-for-6 with a double and four RBI out of the top spot of the Seahawks' order. Cimini and No. 9 batter Stokes also drove in three runs apiece.
Four Owls had a pair of hits, but KSC struck out 11 times. It is also their sixth consecutive loss in the all-time series after winning the first six meetings. Ten of the meetings have either been played in Rhode Island or in Florida.
Keene State's LEC tournament path will begin with a first round matchup against the University of Massachusetts-Boston on Wednesday (May 6) at 3:30 p.m. The entire tournament will be hosted by the University of Southern Maine, with other matchups on the first day including No. 6 seed Vermont State University Castleton taking on the host and top-seeded Huskies at 12:00 p.m. and third-seeded University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth battling with No. 4 seed Eastern Connecticut State University at 7:00 p.m. Stay tuned to keeneowls.com and social media channels (@KeeneStateOwls) for all tournament-related updates, including any scheduling changes.
