GAMBIER, Ohio - After a rough start to Senior Day at McCloskey Field, the Kenyon College Baseball team sent their seniors off with a win in their final home game by splitting a doubleheader with the Wittenberg University Tigers on Sunday. The Tigers won game one 14-7 while the Lords took game two by a 14-2 tally.
 
GAME ONE
 
Despite the offense scoring in each of the first three innings for the Lords, a five-run outburst from the Tigers in the top half of the second inning provided a comfortable cushion that they carried through the remainder of the game.
 
In the first inning, Wittenberg started the scoring with a two-out, RBI single by Josh Kaplan, but the damage was limited when the Tigers stranded the bases loaded.
 
Kenyon responded in the bottom of the first when Phillip Nam drove in Matt von Roemer on a sacrifice fly. Von Roemer had led off the inning with a double.
 
The second inning was when the real problems began, as Wittenberg sent eight batters to the plate. After a strikeout started the frame, the next five batters all reached and later scored. Wittenberg notched three hits in the inning, highlighted by a two-run double from Patrick Kenny.
 
Patrick O'Leary accounted for the next two Kenyon runs as he led off the bottom of the second with a towering home run to center field. O'Leary followed up his second home run of the season with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third, scoring Jackson Celestin. All three leadoff hitters reached and scored in the first three innings.
 
Kenny extended the Wittenberg lead back to five runs with his second two-run double of the afternoon in the top of the fourth. The lead was pushed further to 10-3 with a run scored by the Tigers in both the fifth and sixth innings.
 
Aided by an error with one out in the sixth, Kenyon would produce four unearned runs on two hits; the first an RBI single by Celestin and the other three plating on a double from Mikey Arman. That was the team's final scoring.
 
Jace Barga earned the win for Wittenberg allowing seven runs (three earned) off 10 hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
 
 
GAME TWO
 
Game two started with a bang – well actually with a few – as the Lords slugged three home runs in the first three innings to jump out to a 4-0 lead.
 
Matt Contreras started the party with his fifth blast in the second, and then Max Warren and Arman hit a pair of home runs in the third. It was Warren's first of the season while Arman's tied him with Contreras for second on team with five.
 
Over the middle innings, Kenyon added on two more runs, one in the fourth and one in the fifth. Warren drove in the run in the fourth inning on a groundout while Contreras picked up another RBI on a fielder's choice in the fifth.
 
Wittenberg also was able to tally one on in the fifth, setting up a 6-1 game heading into the bottom of the sixth.
 
Kenyon sent 14 batters to the plate in the sixth, plating eight runs on seven hits to jump out to a 14-1 lead. In the inning, Arman, Gaige Howard, Alec Manning, Andrew Petersdorf and Celestin combined to drive in the eight runs. Both Howard and Petersdorf plated their runs on doubles.
 
Wittenberg added one more run in the seventh before Will Allen struck out the side to seal the victory. Will Oakley went 4.1 innings pithced to get his first collegiate win, striking out two, walking three, while allowing just one earned run and six hits.
 
In total, Arman paced the Lords offense with his 4-4 day in game 2, scoring three runs and driving in two more. Warren scored two runs, drove in two and notched three hits. Every Kenyon starter scored at least one run in game two.
 
The Lords will finish up their season next weekend as part of the North Coast Athletic Conference Crossover Series. Their opponent is to be determined.