Baseball: Owls get first ever win in NCAA tourney

HARWICH, Mass - 5/16//07 -- A five run outburst in the top of the tenth inning broke open a 4-4 ballgame and lifted Keene State (30-13) to a victory over Curry (27-8) in the first round of the NCAA Division III New England Baseball Regional.

Keene scored their five tenth inning runs on four hits, the big blows coming on a two-run double by James Chavalier (Amherst, N.H.) and RBI singles by Jeff Perkins (Dunbarton, N.H.) and Beau Darak (Londonderry, N.H.). Joe Rosseau (Nashua, N.H.) singled to start the inning and advanced to second when Ben Fournier's (Center Harbor, N.H.) bunt attempt was mishandled. Perkins followed with his RBI singles, and Chavalier broke the game open with his two-run double. Chavalier scored on a Curry error, and Darak's RBI single scored Ryan Jones (Nashua, N.H.) for the final insurance run.

Keene State led 4-3 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, but number four-seeded Curry pushed across a single run to send the game into extra innings. Tony Luciani (Weymouth, Mass.) reached base on a fielder's choice and scored on a wild pitch by Keene's Chavalier.

Chevalier, who came on to relieve Owls starter Rick Stromgren (Keene, N.H.) in the eighth inning, picked up his fourth win of the season. The Colonel's James Page (Weymouth, Mass.) entered in the tenth inning and took the loss, falling to 2-2 on the season.

Keene State advances to Game 7 of the Championship where they will take on an opponent determined by Game 4 action Wednesday night. Curry will take on top-seeded Wheaton College in Game 4 Wednesday evening.