AUBURNDALE, Fla. - The Keene State College baseball team received a hit from all nine starters and got at least one RBI from six different people while running away to a 12-1 win over King's College (Pa.) on Saturday afternoon at Lake Myrtle Sports Park Field No. 5.

Records

• Keene State:  1-2
• King's (Pa.):  2-6

How It Happened

Tyler Gammie went 2-for-3 for the Owls, scoring a pair of runs while driving in two others.  Sam Czel continued his hot start with three more hits and an RBI out of the top spot in the lineup, while John Tarascio had a double, walk, three RBI and two runs scored.  Mac Struthers, Connor Walsh and Ryan Linehan also had multiple hits.  King's got 2-for-3 efforts from Dan Hartson and Kyle Friebolin.

The Owls ripped apart what had been a close, low-scoring game with a 12-run explosion in the final two innings after King's led 1-0 through five.  The Monarchs left two on in the opening inning, but cracked the scoreboard first in their half of the second against KSC starter Brandon Heath.  Friebolin and Mike Armstrong started the frame with back-to-back singles, and Friebolin eventually scored after two groundouts.  Trailing 1-0, the Owls could not muster much against King's hurler Matt Mellinger, as he held KSC to just four hits over the first five innings.  The Monarchs put a possible insurance run on third in the fourth, but he was stranded there.  Still down one, the Owls erupted in the sixth as six consecutive men reached after a leadoff out.  Struthers got the rally started with a single, and Walsh followed with one of his own.  Cooper Johnson then relieved Mellinger, but that was only the beginning, as a double from Longley tied the game and Gammie's single put the Owls up 2-1.  A pair of Monarch miscues plated two more runs before David Sevigny made it 5-1 with an RBI groundout. 

Heath retired the side in order in the sixth, and the Owls blew the game wide open with seven runs on eight hits in the seventh.  Struthers and Walsh again got things started with singles, and eventually both scored after Gammie's RBI single and Tarascio's two-run double, making it 8-1.  The hit parade continued with four more hits in a row, as Sevigny cracked a two-run double, and was followed after a pitching change by a run scoring single from Tom Meucci and an RBI double from Czel for a 12-1 lead.

Heath (1-0) went the first six innings, allowing one run while striking out three to pick up the win in his first appearance of the season.  Isaac Keehn threw a 1-2-3 seventh.  Mellinger (0-2) allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings and took the loss.

Around the Horn

• Czel is 5-for-10 with a home run, double, two RBI, three walks and three stolen bases through the opening two days of the season.
• It was the first meeting between the two schools.  King's is located in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. and is a member of the Middle Atlantic-Freedom Conference.
• KSC has swiped six bases in the first three games after having just 20 all of last season.

Up Next

• Keene State remains in Auburndale for a matchup with Husson University tomorrow morning, March 10, at 9:45 am.
• King's gets into conference play with a matchup at DeSales University on Friday, March 15 at 3:30 pm.