KEENE, N.H. – The host Owls used solid hitting and pitching to claim victory over UMass Dartmouth in the opening game of the 2025 Little East Conference Tournament on Wednesday morning. Keene State – the top seed – moves to 22-15, while the sixth-seeded Corsairs are now 16-20 overall.
UMD will now play on Thursday at 9am against the losing team from game two between fifth-seeded Rhode Island College and second-seeded UMass Boston. The Owls will face the losing team from game three between fourth-seeded Southern Maine and third-seeded Eastern Connecticut State. That game is set for 11:30am on Thursday.
The Owls opened the game's scoring in the bottom of the second as a single to center from sophomore Luke Anderson drove in a run. KSC carried that lead into the bottom of the third, putting up two more runs for a 3-0 lead.
In the fourth, a triple from junior Jonathan Chatfield with the bases loaded, saw four runs come across as a throwing error allowed Chatfield to score for the 7-0 margin.
The Corsairs countered in the top of the fifth as graduate student catcher
Matt Tempone belted a home run over the right field wall, but the Owls countered with back-to-back dingers of their own in the sixth, tacking on five total runs for the 12-1 final margin.
Tempone went 2-for-3 on the afternoon with a run scored and an RBI. Sophomore
Dillon Harding shouldered the loss, going 5.0 innings with a strikeout. Senior
Josh Malcolm pitched 0.2 innings with a strikeout, while sophomore
Sam Watts went 0.1 innings to close out the game.
