Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
GAMBIER, Ohio –
Josh Jacobvitz helped the Kenyon Lords baseball team claim a bit of redemption over the College of Wooster Fighting Scots when he delivered a one-hit, complete game victory in the first of two games on Saturday afternoon. After the 9-1 route, both teams' starting pitchers cruised through seven innings leading to a dramatic back-and-forth finish. The Scots squeaked out two runs in the ninth to win by a 5-3 count to take three of four games on the weekend.
Jacobvitz (2-2) began rolling in the second inning of game one after allowing one run in the first. In innings two through seven, the sophomore retired 21 of the final 23 batters, allowing only one hit and a walk the rest of the way. Over the course of his seven innings of work, Jacobvitz struck out four Scots batters while walking only one.
The Scots plated one run in the first after two hit batsmen plus some small ball gave Wooster an early lead, but errors doomed the Fighting Scots as five miscues over the course of the game led to a total of nine Lords runs, only three of which were earned.
The Lords plated four in the opening frame where Kyle Hardacker and Sam Gillespie both notched two-RBI base knocks. Kenyon added three more runs over the next two innings to take a commanding 7-1 lead, giving Jacobvitz more than enough comfort to complete the seven-inning contest on his own. It was his third complete game of the season and his second straight one-hit, complete game effort after accomplishing the feat on March 12 against Pittsburgh-Bradford.
Hardacker and Gillespie each finished with two hits and two RBIs in the Lords' first North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) win of the year. Andrew Dunn and Mike Danziger each scored twice.
The second game proved to be more dramatic after each starting pitcher went seven strong innings while the Lords cruised to a 1-0 lead going into the eighth. Sophomore Mike Jeffers allowed just three hits and one run over a seven-inning span, striking out seven in the process. The eighth inning played to a different tune when the Scots put their first two batters on with a walk and a single to begin the inning. Ben Steiner relieved Jeffers, bringing an end to a high-quality start, but allowed a run-scoring single to Jarrod Mancine, tying the game at one.
With the bases loaded later in the inning, Billy Farrow delivered a two-out, two-RBI double to left center field just outside of the reach of a diving Andrew Dunn to give the Scots a 3-1 lead. The Lords were not to be denied of an opportunity for the win after coming back and tying the game in the bottom half of the inning. With runners on second and third following a sacrifice bunt, reliever Jon Rothman's wild pitch allowed Danziger to score and set the plate for Jake Dunn's sacrifice fly to drive home the game-tying run.
Tied at three going into the ninth, the Scots went back on top. With runners on first and third, freshman reliever Matt Delbridge caught Ryan Miner leaning off first but launched his throw into foul ground allowing one to score. Miner later scored on a sacrifice fly, giving Wooster a two-run lead they did not relinquish.
Jeffers went seven innings and recorded a career-high seven strikeouts in the no-decision against the Scots. John Nahra was the lone Lords player with multiple hits in the game, recording two doubles as part of the team's six hits.
With the split the Lords are now 1-3 after week one of NCAC play and will go into next weekend's four-game series against Oberlin College with a 12-6 overall record. The Lords and Yeomen squad off on Friday, April 6 for the first of two doubleheaders set to begin at 12 p.m.
