KEENE, NH – The Keene SwampBats (16-13) managed just four hits and saw their five-game winning streak come to an end with a 5-1 loss to the Upper Valley Nighthawks (15-13) on Wednesday night at Alumni Field in Keene. 

Upper Valley grabbed a pair of runs in the top of the first to take an early 2-0 lead as Anthony Quirion (Lamar) delivered an RBI single and an error on the play allowed a second run to score. 

Quirion’s solo shot off of SwampBats starter Griff McGarry (Virginia) in the top of the fourth stretched the lead to 3-0. 

Chris Berry (North Florida) made it a 4-0 game in the fifth with a solo shot to right field. 

McGarry allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits while walking one and fanning nine in five innings of work and was dealt the loss, dropping to 3-1. The right-hander fanned eight consecutive batters at one point. 

In the top of the sixth, Greg Hardison (UNC-Greensboro) reached with a leadoff infield single, stole second, went to third on a flyout and scored on Anthony Meduri’s (Binghamton) RBI single to stretch the Upper Valley lead to 5-0. 

The SwampBats got on the board in the home half of the frame as Mitch Golden (Georgia Southern) drew a leadoff walk, went to second on a wild pitch, took third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch charged to Nighthawks RHP Jordan DiValerio (St. Joseph’s). 

DiValerio surrendered the one run on one hit to go along with three walks and six strikeouts in 6.0 IP and earned the win to improve to 2-0. RHP Jordy Allard (Southern New Hampshire-1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 K) and LHP A.J. Franklin (Vanderbilt-1.1 IP, BB, 2 K) combined to close things out for Upper Valley and Franklin notched his third save of the summer. 

Brandon Smith (Dayton) had two of Keene’s four hits in the game, while LHP Ian Exposito (St. Thomas-1.0 IP, H) and RHP Perez Nichols (Broward-1.0 IP, 2 K) both had scoreless outings in relief. 

The SwampBats host the Newport Gulls on Thursday night at Alumni Field in Keene. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. and RHP Kyle Whitten (0-2, 8.35) out of the University of Virginia gets the start for Keene.