Mansfield, Conn. – #4 Keystone College moved to within one win of a trip to the NCAA Division III Collegiate World Series, rolling into the championship round of the New England Regional Tournament with an 11-3 victory over #3 Tufts University on Friday night.  The Giants, now 36-9 this spring, extended their winning streak to nine games including a perfect 6-0 record in postseason contests.
 
Keystone will play for the New England Regional Championship and a trip to the NCAA Division III Collegiate World Series tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.  Should the Giants be defeated on Saturday, a winner-take-all title game would be played on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. The Giants are looking for the program's second trip to the World Series as the squad advanced the final eight in the nation in 2011.
 
Tufts (34-7) will play an elimination game tomorrow starting at 12:00 p.m. against the winner of Friday night's elimination game between #2 Oswego State and #8 Salem State University for the right to meet Keystone in the championship round.  The winner of Saturday's first game will then need to defeat the Giants to force a winner-take-all title game on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Jumbos took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning of Friday's contest between the tournament's remaining 2-0 teams on a two-run double from Eric Schnepf, but Keystone answered with six runs in the home half of the inning.  Austin Chaszar (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown Regional) scored the Giants' first run when Louis Reyes (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) reached on an error before Brandon Eady (Bowie, MD/DeMatha Catholic) delivered a two-run single to center to give Keystone the lead.  Chris Triano (Greenwich, CT/Rye), Billy Nelson (Moscow, PA/North Pocono), and Chaszar all followed with RBI base hits to give the Giants a 6-2 advantage.
 
Tufts got a run back in the visitor's fifth on an RBI groundout by Tommy O'Hara, but Keystone countered with three runs on two hits and three errors in the bottom part of the frame.  Chaszar came home when Robbie Nardelli (Eynon, PA/Valley View) reached on a fielder's choice and an error.  Nardelli then came home on a double down the left field line from Alex Herceg (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) before an RBI double from Eady push the Giants' lead to 9-3.
 
Keystone closed out the scoring with single runs in both the seventh and eighth innings as Herceg scored when Reyes grounded into a double play in the home seventh before Triano came home on a Chaszar sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Nelson picked up the win on the mound for Keystone, improving to 5-1 on the season after allowing three runs on three hits while also striking out three batters in six innings of work.  Danny O'Neill (Lake Hiawatha, NJ/St. Mary's Rutherford) gave up one hit and fanned two in scoreless innings of work before turning the ball over to Nick Spinella (Bethel, CT/Bethel), who walked the only two batters he faced.  Dan Maguire (Ocean Township, NJ/Ocean Township) came on to record the final three outs of the game, all via the strikeout.
 
Herceg went 3-5 with three runs scored while Eady, Triano, Nelson, and Chaszar had two hits apiece for the Giants.  Eady drove in a game-high three runs while Chaszar contributed a pair of RBI in the victory for Keystone, who held a 12-4 advantage in hits for the game.
 
Tufts starter Andrew David was charged with the loss after surrendering six runs on four hits in 1.1 innings on the hill while Joe Thomas pitched the final 6.2 innings for the Jumbos, yielding five runs on eight hits and picking up five K's in relief.
 
Tufts, who got their four hits from four different players in the loss, committed five errors in the contest to a pair of miscues by the Giants.