The Keene State College baseball team left the Sunshine State two games over the .500 mark thanks to a 6-4 road trip over spring break.
The trip did not start off in Keene State’s favor as on the first day of the trip, KSC was swept in their doubleheader by WPI 4-1 in Game 1 and 11-3 in Game 2.
On the third game of their trip on March 12, the Owls’ ace, senior Cody Dube, pitched like an ace. Dube went seven innings and allowed two runs and struck out nine hitters in the Owls 8-3 win over Montclair State. In the win, senior Billy Hartmann and first-year player Devin Springfield went two for four with 2 RBIs each.
After a 12-9 loss to Nebraska-Wesleyan on March 13, the Owls started racking up some wins. After the loss to Nebraska-Wesleyan Keene State earned five straight wins, including an extra inning walk-off thriller in 11 innings over Gwyneed Mercy the next day on March 14. In that game, the Owls fell behind 2-0 after the first two innings. Keene State was able to tie the game up in the bottom of the fifth inning with Springfield’s two-run single. However, the Owls fell behind in the sixth inning 3-2.
Keene State did not grab the run back until the eighth inning when Springfield was able to come around to score on an error to make it 3-3.
The game was then scoreless until the top of the eleventh inning. Sophomore Stephan Zadravec allowed a two run home run to make it a 5-3 game. Keene State was able to string together a two out rally with senior Joe Libby driving in a run with an RBI single to make it 5-4.
One batter later, Hartmann hit a triple that got by the diving centerfielder Gwyneed Mercy to drive in Libby. On that same play, the throw was off-line to the cutoff man. However, the relay throw to home plate was not in time and Hartmann was able to score sliding in head first before the tag to give the Owls the 6-5 victory.
After the walk-off victory, Keene State won their next four games with a 12-2 win against Vassar on March 16. Then the Owls swept New England College in a doubleheader on March 17, and defeated Farmingdale State the following day 8-2.
Keene State closed out their trip with a 6-4 loss on March 19, to Suffolk.
KSC got some very good contributions over the trip, with Hartmann and Libby hitting over .400 on the season. Also, newcomers Devin Springfield and Connor Longley are both hitting over the .380 mark on the season.
Keene State will be back in action today, March 24, for their home opener against Babson College at 3:30 p.m. at Owl Athletic Complex.
Brian can be contacted at bclemmenson@kscequinox.com
