WINTER HAVEN, Fla.--Abe Grainger came off the bench to deliver two key hits and Andrew Houde pitched eight strong innings to lead the Keene State College baseball team to a 6-1 win over McDaniel College at Chain O' Lakes Field No. 1 on Friday morning.

Records

• Keene State: 6-4
• McDaniel: 6-4

How it Happened

Houde (2-1) went eight innings, striking out five and working out of jams in the first and second innings.  Six different players had at least two hits for Keene State, led by Connor Walsh, who was 3-for-3.  Nate Rossi, Devin Springfield, David Sevigny, John Tarascio, and Grainger all had two hits apiece, and Mac Struthers knocked in two runs with a sacrifice fly and a fielder's choice.

The game remained scoreless until the sixth inning, when the Green Terror got back-to-back doubles from Tim Griest and and Colin Franke for a 1-0 lead.  McDaniel could have had more after Sam Brustad singled Franke to third, but Houde retired Brett Anderson and DJ Biscoe to end the threat. 

Houde worked out of trouble in the first, as an error, a walk, and a single loaded the bases with one out, only to have Houde strike out TJ McGuire and getting Tom Daly to groundout to short.  The Green Terror had two on and none out in the second, but a fielder's choice cut down the lead runner before Houde induced Brett Anderson into a 5-3 double play.

The Owls broke through in the seventh, as Tarascio hit a lead-off double, and Grainger, coming up to pinch-hit, smoked a double of his own to tie the score.  Tom Meucci's sacrifice bunt moved Grainger to third, and Struthers lofted a sacrifice fly to center to score Grainger and put the Owls in front. 

Keene State added four more in the eighth with an RBI double from Tarascio and a bases clearing triple from Grainger.  Struthers made it 6-1 with a fielder's choice RBI in the same inning.  Connor Johnson came on for the ninth and worked out of another tough spot, striking out Kasey Nelson with runners on second and third before getting McGuire to ground out to second base to end the game. 

Around the Horn

• Keene State improved to 5-2 on their trip to Florida and could match their victory total from last year's trip with a win tomorrow.
• Houde had his longest outing of the year, lowering his ERA to 3.72.
• Grainger hit his first career triple, improving his batting average to .300 this season.

Up Next

• The Owls take on Illinois Tech on Saturday at 9 a.m. in what is scheduled to be Keene State's last game in Florida.
• McDaniel is off until next Tuesday, returning to Maryland to face Penn State-York at 3:30 p.m.