KSC Improves to 7-5 In Last 12, Beats Vikings 8-5
RINDGE, N.H. – Tommy Ahlers hit a towering two-run blast to left field in the bottom of the first inning to get the Keene State College baseball team off and running and the Owls went on to post an 8-5 win over Salem State University in their de facto home opener on Wednesday night at Pappas Field on the campus of Franklin Pierce University.
Postgame Interview (Coach Blood)
Postgame Interview (Tommy Ahlers)
Since starting the season with four losses and a sputtering offense, the Owls (7-9) have been on fire in their last 12 games, hitting .319 as a team and scoring 99 runs. In that time, Ahlers is hitting a sizzling .491 and has driven in 14 runs. He has an OPS of 1.226 and seven extra-base hits while extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Evan McCue, Shea Zina, and Jonathan Chatfield also added multi-hit games, with McCue following closely behind Ahlers with a .409 average (9-for-22) and 11 RBI in five games since March 8.
KSC put up five runs in the first two innings, opening a 5-1 advantage in the second on a two-run double down the left field line by Zina, who greeted reliever Riley Fenerty rudely after Vikings (3-7) starter Nick Krompegal labored and was chased after getting four outs. He allowed three hits and five runs while walking four with one strikeout.
The Owls were well in command for most of the game from there and threatened to run away, responding to an unearned run that came home on a passed ball in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs in the bottom half as Ethan Rainha, Anthony DiGiacomo, and Luke Anderson each came through with base hits to score a run. A sacrifice fly by Evan Cali made it 7-2 with two outs in the frame, but KSC stranded a pair.
David Floyd (1-1) worked around a leadoff double by striking out a pair in the top of the sixth, but Salem State made it interesting with a three-run seventh against Sean Egan. The Vikings had little going after Yabdriel Gonzalez bounced back to Egan for a fielder's choice that was the second out with only a runner on first, but the Owl freshman arm then walked Nolan Currier and hit Ethan Supplettis with a pitch to load the bases. Brayden Michaelson then cleared them with a long double over the speedy Ahlers' head in center to suddenly make it a 7-5 game with the tying run at the plate. Dylan Ellison then got Ryan Bourgeois to sky to right in two pitches to end the inning and preserve the lead.
Cali and McCue got back an important insurance run in the bottom half of the seventh, with the former reaching thanks to an infield single that the second baseman Michaelson dove but had no play on. Cali then moved to second on the second balk of the night by Salem, and McCue made it hurt by lashing an RBI double to the left center gap.
It was a rocky eighth for Ellison as Yarema Stasyshyn walked and Connor Dolan poked a single into left to put the tying run to the plate quickly. However, Cali made a heads up play after blocking a pitch to throw out Stasyshyn trying to advance to third for the first out. Jake Boucher then walked and Owen Duggan hit a weak grounder up the third base line that the Owls had no play on, loading the bases with one out, but Ellison induced a 6-4-3 double play that DiGiacomo started to get out of trouble.
Troy Brennan wrapped up KSC's win by firing a 1-2-3 ninth on 11 pitches, including a strikeout of Currier – who entered hitting .515 – to begin the inning.
McCue finished halfway to a cycle, cracking a double and a triple in his 2-for-3 effort that also saw him take two free passes. Chatfield recorded his fourth multi-hit game in the last five outings, totaling 11 in that span in the process.
Michaelson (3-5, 2B, 3 RBI, R) and Duggan (3-5) each had three-hit efforts, but nine of the Vikings' 11 hits were singles as they lost their fourth straight and fell to 2-7 all-time against Keene State. It was Salem State's first game up north following their Florida trip, which concluded with a 6-2 eight inning (extra innings) loss to top-ranked Johns Hopkins University on Saturday.
KSC opens conference play on Friday (March 28) with a home doubleheader against Rhode Island College (6-8, 0-2 LEC) that starts at 12:00 p.m. Salem State is back at Franklin Pierce tomorrow night for a scheduled road MASCAC game against Fitchburg State University (4-6) at 6:30 p.m.