Baseball takes No. 17 Keene State to extra innings twice, but Owls prevail

KEENE, N.H. (courtesy KSC sports info) -
The Brandeis University baseball team went to extra innings in both ends of a doubleheader against 17th-ranked Keene State College, but the Owls came out on top in both contests, 6-3 and 8-7. Both games ended in the eighth inning.

Freshman Bobby Doyon (Keene, N.H.) hit a walk-off three-run home run to lead Keene State to a 6-3 win in the opener. Senior shortstop Ryan Jones (Nashua, N.H.) did the honors in the second game, delivering a one-out RBI single in the Owls 8-7 win. Keene State improves to 18-5, while Brandeis falls to 11-10.

With the scored tied three all in the first game, Anthony Cippola began the Owls eighth inning rally by reaching base when he was hit by a pitch. Tyler DiPrato followed with a walk. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, setting the stage for Doyon, who drove the ball over the left-center field fence for his third home run of the season.

KSC fell behind when Brandeis plated three runs in the third on a pair of fielder's choices and an RBI single by Drake Livada (Cape Elizabeth, Me.).
They got the three runs back in the bottom of the fourth on a couple of fielder's choice plays and an error that scored Beau Darak with the tying run.
Sophomore Ben Sonberg pitched eight solid innings for the Owls. He gave up three runs on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk to improve his record to improve his record to 2-0.
Starter Rocco Toppi (3-3) took the loss for Brandeis.

In the nightcap, KSC trailed 7-2, before mounting its comeback. They got three runs back in the sixth on a three run home run by senior Greg Ford, his fifth of the season, which cleared the scoreboard in centerfield.

The Owls tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Jeff Perkins led off the inning with a double and came around to score on a RBI single by Joe Rousseau to make it a 7-6 game.
Rousseau moved to third on a double by Jamie Chevalier and scored on a fielder's choice from Brett Palatiello .
In the bottom of the eighth, Ford opened the inning with a long fly ball down the right field line. The Brandeis right fielder lost his footing and the ball fell in fair as Ford circled the bases and ended up on third. On a three-two pitch, Jones singled through the right side to bring in Ford with the winning run.

The Owls took an early 2-0 lead in the first on RBI hits from Anthony Cipolla and Doyon.

The Judges took the lead with a five run fourth inning that featured a two-run home run by Artie Posch (Hopedale, Mass.) an RBI triple by Malcom Cone-Coleman (Portland, Maine) and a run-producing double from John O'Brion
(Portland, Maine). Brandeis added two more runs in the sixth to go up 7-2.

Mike Riley (East Hartford, Conn.) started for the owls. He went four innings, giving up five runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Ford, the Owls' closer, got an early call in the fifth, and pitched 2.1 innings of hit-less ball with four strikeouts to get the win (1-0). Drew Brozozwski (Concord, Mass.) (1-2) took the loss for the Judges.