Pioneers Lose Heartbreaker

Keene State walked off with a 9-8 victory over Alfred State in a back and forth affair at Chain of Lakes Field in Winter Haven, FL on Monday morning.  The Pioneers rallied from 4-0, 6-4, and 8-7 leads but the Owls scored a two-out run in the 9th to walk off with the victory.

The Owls scored one in the 2nd and three in the 3rd to jump out to a 4-0 lead.  The Pioneers collected five hits in the 5th and tied the game up at 4-4.  Jordan Wheaton (Wayland Cohcoton) collected a RBI double and Cullen Franz (Cazenovia) had a two RBI double to key the inning.

Keene score two in the 6th to regain the lead but Franz had a RBI single to cut it to 6-5.  The Owls answered with their own run in the bottom of the 7th before the Pioneers tied it in the 8th a two-run single by Matthew Nawrot (Clarence).  

Keene took a 8-7 lead with a solo homer in the 8th but Franz connected on a one-out double in the 9th and came around to score on two wild pitches to tie the game.  Andrew Gummow led off the bottom of the 9th with a double and came around to score the winner after two outs were recorded on a walk-off single by Dustin Howe.

The Pioneers were led by Franz's 3 for 5, 3 RBI while Wheaton was 2 for 5 with a RBI.  Kyle Kuzma (Waverly) was 2 for 3 with a RBI on the day while Nawrot was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI.

Gummow led the Owls witha  3 for 4, 2 RBI day while Joe Libby was 3 for 5 with 2 RBI.

The blue & gold have Tuesday off but return to action on Wednesday for a single 9-inning contest vs. Rutgers-Camden starting at 4 p.m.