KEENE, N.H. – Starters Dan Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.) and Matt Tulley (Lowell, Mass.) each went seven plus innings and had seven strikeouts to carry baseball to a 3-1 and 7-1 Little East Conference sweep of Keene State College Saturday afternoon at Owl Athletic Complex.

THE BASICS

GM1: UMass Boston 3, Keene State College 1
GM2: UMass Boston 7, Keene State College 1

UMass Boston (21-9, 6-3 Little East Conference)
Keene State College (10-18, 3-6 Little East Conference)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The two senior righty's were solid all afternoon, as the Beacons continue to keep pace in the top-3 in the Little East Conference standings.  In the opener, Mantoni went 7.1 innings and allowed just the one run on five hits, while also surrendering a mere four walks.  Bobby Tramondozzi (Peabody, Mass.) collected his sixth save of the season after going the final 1.2 innings, in-which he struck out three while only allowing one hit

Tulley's line was almost identical to Mantoni's in the nightcap.  Through seven complete, Tulley allowed one run on seven hits, and walked five batters.  Joe Maguire (Peabody, Mass.) finished-off the Owls for the conference sweep as he fanned three, while only allowing three hits, all singles, over the final two innings.

GAME 1

In the opener, the Beacons combined for nine hits, and scored all three of their runs in the top of the fourth inning.  Danny Brown (Hudson, N.H.) reached base on a single, and quickly advanced to third thanks to a double by Anthony Searles (Shelton, Conn.).  A Charlie Huegi (Sandy Hook, Conn.)  RBI fielder's choice put the Beacons on the scoreboard for the first time.  After a walk to Josh Lopez (New Haven, Conn.) put runners on first and second, Mantoni gave himself some breathing room as he knocked-in both base runners on a single. 

From there Mantoni and Tramondozzi completely dominated the Owls bats, which combined for just six hits in the game one loss.  Their lone run of the game came in the bottom of the eighth, when they scored on an RBI single. 

Lopez led the Beacons bats with three hits and also had a run scored.  Searles recorded the lone extra base hit for both teams in game one.  Saturday's loss went to the Owls ace Michael Crimi who went 8.2 innings.  He allowed all three runs on the nine hits, but did manage to strike out seven and walk just three Beacons. 

GAME 2

The Beacons got on the board early in the nightcap scoring two runs in the top of the second and third innings. They then clinched the win in the eight with three runs to secure the sweep.  Tulley limited the Owls to just one extra base hit during his seven innings of work, as the senior improved to 4-2. 

In the second inning, the Beacons got their first run of the day on a balk, which plated Luke Nagle (Pembroke, Mass.).  After that another Huegi RBI fielder's choice gave UMB an early 2-0 lead.  In the top half of the third, Nick Herzog (Riverhead, N.Y.) cleared the bases on a two-run triple to double their lead over the Owls.  After 3.5 half scoreless innings, the Owls finally ended the shutout bid thanks to an RBI single by Zach Rollins.  UMB would end any chance of a Keene State comeback in the inning as they turned a double play to keep their lead at three. 

In the eighth, UMB scored two of their three runs on fielding errors, while the third came off a wild pitch.  Boudrias led the Beacons with a 3-for-5 showing at the plate, while Nagle went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Tim Coppinger lasted just three innings in the game two loss after allowing four runs, all earned, on six hits to fall to 0-4 on the year. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• With the game one save, Tramondozzi now sits just one save away from tying the single season record of seven, which was set by Manny Garcia in 2016
• With the sweep the Beacons now own the best record through 30 games in program history
• Chris Fowler (Barnstable, Mass.) pushed his hitting streak to 22 straight games, as he recorded a single in both games
• The Beacons continue to lead the Little East Conference with a 3.13 ERA
• UMass Boston has now won six straight over the Owls and eight of their last nine meetings with the Beacons

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will host the University of Southern Maine on Tuesday at 3 p.m.