Keene State brought their bats with them on Wednesday April 24, when they overcame Plymouth State College, pitching in a 16-5 victory over the Panthers at Panther Field. Sophomore pitcher Josh Forest started the game off for the Panthers, as Owls senior pitcher Andrew Cutherbertson threw seven full innings to hold the Panthers to just two runs.
Keene tallied first in the second inning with a homerun by Junior Justin Hickman, his fourth of the season. In the third inning Keene scored another run by getting two men on from two of the three errors committed by the Panthers on the day and Ben Tyler’s sac fly, which sent in Matt Orszulak who was on third.
The Panthers mounted a short come back in the fourth from a base hit by Matt Price, which knocked in one run and another base hit by Matt Salukangas, which knocked in the tying run. The fifth inning proved to be disastrous for Panther pitching as the Owls put nine more on the board, forcing the Panthers to go through three pitchers in that inning alone.
Matt Orszulak started the inning off with a double up the right field foul line. Four more consecutive hits would put three of the nine runs on the board, before Junior Eric Kilburn would clear the bases with a homerun, his third for the season, which would score two more. Two more hits and three walks would add the rest of the runs, before the Panthers could end the inning.
Although Junior Jason Egan held off any runs in the sixth, the Owls would put another on the board in the seventh from a homerun by Ben Tyer, his second on the season. The Panthers bats picked up in the eighth with a lead off base hit from Junior Jay Zinis. Three more base hits and two sac flies put three on the board, shrinking the Owl’s lead to seven.
The Owl’s answered back in the ninth with four more runs of their own, putting them up by eleven. Three base hits, a double by Kelly Charbono, a walk and another error by the Panthers paved the way for an Owl’s win. The Panthers fought back in the ninth with a lead off walk to Scott Hudson, but the next three batters weren’t able to take advantage of the man on base and left him stranded as the Owl’s claimed victory.
Plymouth State will host Endicott Friday, April 26 at Panther Park for a 3:30 p.m. start.