DELAWARE, Ohio – Sophomore first baseman Alec Manning ripped a pair of home runs Friday and steered the Kenyon College baseball team to a 9-7 victory over Ohio Wesleyan University in the first game of the three-game North Coast Athletic Conference crossover series.

The crossover series pits teams from the NCAC East Division against teams from West Division. The winner of the series moves on to the four-team NCAC Tournament for a chance to capture the conference title, as well as an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Kenyon, now 21-15, entered the crossover series as the No. 3 seeded team in the East, while Ohio Wesleyan, now 25-12, entered as the No. 2 team in the West.

When play got underway at Littick Field, the host Battling Bishops got to Kenyon starting pitcher Sam Gillespie for two runs in the first inning, but Gillespie settled in and shut down Ohio Wesleyan batters for the next five innings.

Meanwhile, the Kenyon offense got things going in the top of the third inning off of OWU starter Pete Munger. Matt von Roemer, Kenyon's sophomore shortstop, ripped a two-run double to left field to knot up the game. Then, in the top of the fourth, Manning belted his first homer over the leftfield wall to give the Lords their first lead of the game.

In the top of the fifth, John Nahra was hit by a pitch, Mikey Arman moved Nahra to third with a double and Phillip Nam smacked a sacrifice fly to center that scored Nahra and gave Kenyon a 4-2 cushion.

In the seventh inning, Kenyon plated an unearned run to extend its lead to three, but Ohio Wesleyan finally solved Gillespie and scored twice more to move the score to 5-4 in favor of Kenyon.

The Lords, who scored at least one run in six on the nine innings, notched their sixth score when pinch-hitting junior Andrew Petersdorf went yard for the second time this season.

Finally, in the ninth, insurance came in the form of a three-run bomb from Manning. After Nam reached via error and Jono Chafe singled, Manning came up and cleared the bases with shot to left center, giving Kenyon a 9-4 lead.

Manning finished the game 3-for-5 with two runs scored and four RBI. No other Kenyon batter had more than one hit. Nam and von Roemer each had two RBI.

Gillespie pitched six-and-a-third innings to earn the win after giving up four earned runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out three before giving way to senior Paul Henshaw, normally a starter, who closed out the game and earned the first save of his career. Henshaw also allowed six hits. He walked one, struck out two and gave up three earned runs.

Kenyon and Ohio Wesleyan are scheduled to finish off the crossover series with doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon. If Kenyon wins one of the two games, it advances to the NCAC Tournament for the first time since the 2012 season.