WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Tim Kennedy (Ridge, N.Y./Longwood) threw seven brilliant innings, but a two-out homer in the bottom of the eighth lifted the No. 5 Southern New Hampshire Penmen to a 1-0 final over the Chargers in the Northeast-10 Baseball Championship on Thursday afternoon. The result sets up an elimination game for the Blue and Gold against Pace on Friday morning. The Setters lost earlier in the day to Franklin Pierce.

Both starters were outstanding as Kennedy struck out 12 batters through the first five innings and finished his seven innings of work allowing four hits and three walks to go along with his dozen punchouts. His counterpart on the mound was equally as impressive as Jake Stearns surrendered just two hits and a walk through seven shutout innings.
 
The 12 strikeouts by Kennedy were the most for a New Haven pitcher in a single game since before the 2007 season.
 
The Chargers had the first real scoring chance of the game in the eighth when with two outs, back-to-back singles by PJ Contreras (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) and Matt Chamberlain (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) put a pair of runners on base, but the Blue and Gold was unable to cash in on the opportunity. In the bottom of the inning, Brandon LaManna (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) got the first two outs of the inning before Ryan Sullivan took a 1-2 pitch over the leftfield wall, accounting for the only run of the game.
 
New Haven looks to keep its Northeast-10 Championship run alive when it faces the Pace Setters in an elimination game at Frank Vieira Field on Friday, May 12 at 10:00 a.m.