Loss eliminates Keene State
- Updated: May 18, 2025
MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Although it was not the NCAA tournament run or ending the Keene State College baseball team might have been hoping for after winning 17 of 19 games entering the field of 64, should the Owls mold into a regional and national contender once again, their rise can be traced back to what turned into a historic 2025 season.
KSC gained valuable postseason experience, but ultimately could not find the big hits, suffering a second consecutive loss in the Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg regional on Saturday, falling to The College of New Jersey 4-1 in an elimination game.
The Owls conclude their season at 25-17, and were limited to just one run in the regional by three pitchers, which included an eight-inning shutout effort from Salve Regina University starter Brayden Clark yesterday and a complete game from Jackson Malouf of TCNJ (27-18-1) today.
Keene State was not without ample opportunities to change the complexion of the outcome in the third game of a weather-delayed regional after host Penn State Harrisburg wrapped up a 10-5 win over TCNJ just 45 minutes prior following the suspension of yesterday’s second game in the fourth with the Nittany Lions leading 8-2. The Owls took the lead in the top of the second when Jonathan Chatfield singled and stole second to lead off the inning before scoring on Otis Follet’s one-out single to break the scoring ice. Anthony DiGiacomo followed with one of his two hits on the day by chopping a slow roller past Malouf to load the bases, but KSC failed to tack on any other runs and put an immense amount of pressure on TCNJ early as Luke Anderson skied to shallow left and Evan Cali struck out.
The Lions answered quickly, as Ryan Goodall – who had three of TCNJ’s five hits including two doubles and a home run – began the bottom half of the second with a double before scoring on an errant throw by Follet after Andrew Fernandez’s fly ball to center moved him to third.
Tied at one, the Owls had a key chance in the top of the fourth when Shea Zina and Ethan Rainha began the frame with singles, but Follet’s bunt got to Malouf too quickly, who corralled and fired quickly to get the lead runner Zina at third. DiGiacomo then bounced into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. The missed chance proved costly when Goodall cracked a two-out solo shot to left field in TCNJ’s trip to the plate to give the Lions, playing as the home team, the lead.
It was mostly a pitching story from there. KSC finished just 5-for-17 with runners on base and 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position on the day, including a missed opportunity to respond in the fifth after Cali poked a double to the opposite field down the line. He moved to third on a grounder by Evan McCue, but Tommy Ahlers grounded to short to keep it 2-1.
The Lions had just four chances with runners in scoring position (and one hit) and only six opportunities with runners on base, but gained important breathing room in the sixth when Justin Marcario lofted a critical two-run homer over the left field fence to make it 4-1.
KSC put the leadoff man on in the seventh when DiGiacomo singled to center, but Malouf retired the next three, two on infield fielder’s choice ground balls to short after Anderson lined to left. Down to their last out in the ninth, DiGiacomo reached on a miscue by Fernandez at third to extend the inning and Anderson, who had three hits in the two NCAA tournament games, followed with a base hit up the middle to bring the tying run to the plate, but Cali pulled a ground ball to second as KSC left nine runners on base.
Malouf (8-2) entered with a sub-2.00 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 79.2 innings, and despite traffic, the Owls found him tough to crack, grounding out an eye-popping 18 times in 27 outs. The TCNJ senior lefty walked one and struck out four in his 119-pitch complete game effort, lowering his ERA from 1.69 to 1.52 and extending his team’s season to another elimination game last today against either No. 7 ranked Salve Regina University or Penn State Harrisburg.
Jachym fell to 6-2, taking a tough luck loss after allowing five hits and four runs (three earned) in six innings with two walks and two strikeouts. Liam Conley, one of six KSC seniors, fired two hitless innings with one walk and two whiffs out of the pen to keep the Owls within reach, but their offense sputtered in the two NCAA tournament games, hitting .197. KSC’s five arms, which included four innings of one-run relief, actually limited their two opponents to an abysmal 11-for-57 (.193) batting average, but the Owls could not overcome going 5-for-26 (.192) offensively with runners on base in the two games, stranding 14 runners overall. Salve Regina and TCNJ combined to hit .222 (4-for-18) with runners on in the two contests.
KSC will shift their attention to 2026 and attempt to position themselves for a deeper NCAA tournament run, returning a massive amount of the core of their team that features a 17-member junior class. They graduate Conley, Zina, Joseph Lucas, Wyatt Daft, and Jack Lang from a group that will forever be associated with an impressive four-year turnaround since head coach Justin Blood took over, going from 6-28 in year one and 13-25 with 14 straight losses to end the season in year two, to breaking KSC’s conference tournament drought in 2024 and bursting onto the season one year later to win the conference tournament while holding four different opponents to just six runs.
Keene State’s pitching staff, which allowed double-digit hits 14 times during the 8-13 start and just five times in the 21 games, posted an impressive 2.16 ERA and .165 opponents’ batting average in six postseason games, allowing just 29 hits in 50 innings and a .250 opponents’ on-base percentage.
Offensively, Follet posted a .429 postseason average (9-for-21) and Anderson continuously set the table for the top of the order, going 7-for-20 (.350) from the No. 9 spot in the LEC and NCAA tournaments. Ahlers finished with a .429 average and 73 hits in 2025, both top seven marks in those categories on KSC’s all-time single-season lists. He fell just five hits short of the single-season hits record, matching Bobby Doyon’s 73 from 2009 and 2010 in a third-place tie.
KSC returns their top seven and 10 of their top 11 qualified hitters and five of their top six ERA leaders entering a season in 2026 that is sure to have high expectations on the heels of a memorable run that put the Owls back on the map.
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