FORT MYERS, Fla. – Kenyon College was down 7-0 before rallying for a 13-10 win over Marian University Thursday afternoon at the Gene Cusic Classic. That sparked the Ladies to a victory in game two against Drew University when Kenyon rolled to a 15-6 win improving its record to 5-3. The win over Marian was head coach Erin O'Neill's 100th career victory at Kenyon.
 
GAME ONE
 
The Knights jumped out to a 7-0 lead after nearly three innings of play at CenturyLink Sports Complex. Marian put a five-spot on the Ladies in the top half of the third highlighted by Lindsey Strainis' RBI single and Nicole LaBeck's double to right center.
 
Starting in the home half of the third, the Ladies began to find their rhythm in the batter's box.
 
Kenyon finally got on the board with a two-run double from senior Jane Ghublikian.  In the next at-bat, catcher Grace Pilz connected with a sacrifice fly to center to help add the Ladies' third run.
 
Heading to the fourth, the Ladies made a pitching change to senior Danielle Elizarraraz who made her first appearance in the circle since March 21 of last year. She didn't disappoint as no runs came across for Marian in the fourth and fifth innings.
 
Offensively for Kenyon during the fifth, the bats were still potent and helped them take the lead. The first five batters got hits and Kenyon tied the game at 7-7 after back-to-back doubles from Pilz and Lindsey Susolik. A couple plate appearances later, Sophie Silberman squeezed a shot to left field pushing Elizabeth Ovieda home while giving Kenyon an 8-7 lead.
 
Marian retook the lead in the sixth though as they tallied three runs. Emily Gorges smacked a two-run double to highlight that inning and Kenyon fell behind again 10-8.
 
That didn't faze the Ladies as they came right back in the home half of the inning and scored five times. Pilz and Ghublikian had run-scoring hits and the Ladies' final runs came off the bat of Elizarraraz who drove in two with a single through the left side.
 
The scoring ended there for Kenyon and in the bottom of the seventh, the Ladies got the necessary outs to end the game.
 
It was Elizarraraz's first win in the circle of her career. Offensively, Ghublikian went 4-for-4 with three doubles while Madi Maldonado, Pilz and Elizarraraz each collected two hits.
 
GAME TWO
 
Kenyon stayed hot at the plate against the Rangers during the second game of the day. The Ladies scored multiple runs in all but one inning as they invoked the run rule by game's end, winning 15-6.
 
In the first, a Drew error allowed two runs to score and Susolik smacked her second homer of the year to push the Ladies' lead to 3-0.
 
Pilz and Mari Colucci each drove in runs in the second frame which helped the Ladies move their advantage to 5-1. But in the next inning, Drew University made things a little uneasy for Kenyon.
 
The Rangers recorded seven straight hits and were able to tie the game at six apiece in the third. Sammie Booth had a two-run double while Katie Grodski and Brooke Adams had run-scoring hits. That sequence brought a pitching change for the Ladies and freshman Austen Whibley came in.
 
Head coach Erin O'Neill's switch worked as Drew never scored again.
 
Kenyon quickly retook the lead in the fourth as Britny Patterson singled to left field scoring Amanda Ogata. Two batters later, Maldonado went first-pitch swinging and sent a shot to right-center scoring Patterson and Colucci.
 
The Rangers never responded after that. Whibley allowed just two hits in the final three innings as the Ladies continued to add runs on the scoreboard.
 
Highlighting Kenyon's offensive performance in the latter portions of the game included an RBI double from Ogato and two-run triple from Amanda Coyle in the fifth.
 
Ogata was perfect in the game going 4-for-4 while Patterson went 3-for-4. Collecting two hits each were Coyle, Maldonado and Pilz.
 
Kenyon has the day off tomorrow but will return to action on March 12 when they face Edgewood College and Augsburg College starting at 1 p.m.