GAMBIER, Ohio – College of Wooster (18-3, 6-2 NCAC) swept a North Coast Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader over Kenyon College (14-10, 4-4 NCAC) on Sunday afternoon at McCloskey Field. The Fighting Scots held on to win game one 17-16 before clinching the series with a 16-9 win in game two.
 
GAME ONE
 
The first three innings of Sunday's opener were owned by the Fighting Scots. In the first, Frank Vance hit a three-run homer and four batters later Jacob Solomon extended the lead to 5-0 after a two-run bomb to center field.
 
Wooster continued its early-game onslaught as it pushed its lead to 10-0 in the top of the third. Kenny Reckart started the scoring with an RBI single to left field plating Ryan Ostendorf who had tripled in the previous at-bat. Leading 7-0, Vance tallied an RBI single and Wooster found its final two runs of the frame on a pair of wild pitches.
 
Trailing by 10, Kenyon began to climb back. The Lords scored twice in the bottom of the third to cut the score to 10-2 and added four more in the fourth to inch closer. Jono Chafe started the inning with a home run to left field and Max Heldman and Casey Rosenfeld followed with RBI singles to bring the score to 10-5. Kyle Hardacker rounded out the fourth with a run-scoring single to left field.
 
But right after that, Wooster responded by scoring five in the top of the fifth and pushed its lead to 15-6. Solomon, Jake Fling, and Tyler Schuch highlighted the inning as that trio each had run-scoring hits.
 
The Fighting Scots added two more runs in the sixth before the Lords made it interesting again.
 
Trailing 17-6, Kenyon exploded for 10 runs in the sixth. Rosenfeld, Jake Dunn, and Hardacker started the frame with singles and Phillip Nam followed with another single to score two and bring the count to 17-8. After a pair of wild pitches from Wooster allowed two more runners to cross home, Heldman drove in Chafe on a fielder's choice and Rosenfeld added another hit in the inning, this time scoring Heldman. Nam followed three batters later and hit a bases-clearing double which brought the score to 17-16 Fighting Scots.
 
With momentum on their side, the Lords retired the side in the top of the seventh and brought the bats up one final time. Unfortunately, Wooster closer Michael Whitaker retired all three Kenyon batters to preserve victory for the visitors.
 
GAME TWO
 
The second game of the doubleheader started in favor of the Fighting Scots once again as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead.
 
There were four RBI singles in the top of the first for Wooster and a two-run double from Solomon as the Fighting Scots jumped out 6-0.
 
Vance pushed Wooster up 7-0 in the third with an RBI double and later scored on an error along the infield.
 
The bottom of the third for Kenyon saw Von Roemer and Cormac Jewell each hit solo home runs to cut the deficit to 8-2.
 
But once again, Wooster responded. Solomon hit a solo homer to left field and Vance closed out the scoring with a two-out, two-run double. The Fighting Scots led 11-2 after that.
 
Kenyon attempted another comeback starting in the bottom of the fifth. Dunn hit his first home run of the season to left center to tally the Lords' fourth run of the game. Chafe added a run-scoring double and Max Heldman followed with a single that plated Chafe bringing the score to 12-6.
 
The Lords weren't done yet though as they inched closer in the seventh.
 
With the bases loaded, Von Roemer roped a bases-clearing double down the left field line and moved the score to 12-9.
 
But as it turned out, just like earlier in the day, Wooster shut the door on Kenyon late.
 
Whitaker shut down the Lords in the final two innings not allowing any more runs while earning his sixth save of the season. Offensively, the Fighting Scots found four more runs in the ninth highlighted by Chris Fafalios' two-run double which brought the score to its final tally, 16-9.
 
While the Lords' offense was solid during the day (.408 BA), its offense had trouble containing the Fighting Scots. Twelve different pitchers saw time on the mound for Kenyon with no more than two finding any more than three strikeouts.
 
Kenyon will look to bounce back when they travel to Oberlin College for an NCAC doubleheader on April 11.