HIRAM, Ohio – The Kenyon College baseball team amassed 28 hits and scored in all but two innings during Sunday afternoon's 24-13 pummeling of the Hiram College Terriers. The 24 runs scored tied a program record and the 28 hits broke the previous single-game team mark of 26.
The Lords also smashed a dozen doubles, breaking the previous record of nine, and tied another program single-game standard with four home runs.
Overall, Kenyon batters were 28-for-56 (.500) with 16 extra-base hits, six walks and four hit-by-pitches.
Each team scored a run in the first inning and then Kenyon put four more on the board in the second. Hiram closed the gap to 6-3 after three innings and then 8-6 after five innings, but the Lords erupted for six runs in the sixth inning and seven more in the seventh inning.
Kenyon senior
Mikey Arman set the tone early with a solo home run, his fourth of the season, in the first inning. In the second, Arman tacked on a two-run single.
Sophomore
Patrick O'Leary belted a two-run homer in the fourth inning.
Matt Contreras and
Joaquin Murrieta followed up with solo homers to kick off the sixth inning. Also in the sixth,
Matt von Roemer and
Alex Gow ripped RBI doubles.
In the seventh inning, Kenyon benefitted from two Hiram errors that paved the way for nine consecutive batters to reach base with two outs. O'Leary and
Alex Hoskins both had run-scoring singles and sophomore
Paul Siciliano added a two-run double to cap off the damage in that inning.
Siciliano, Arman and
Chris Santucci each tacked on a run-scoring hit in the top of the ninth.
When the fireworks subsided, Siciliano was 5-for-6 with three doubles, three runs scored and four RBI. Contreras was also 5-for-6. In addition to his home run, his team-best fifth of the season, Contreras had three doubles and scored four times.
Gow added a 4-for-8 showing that included three runs, two doubles and two RBI. Arman finished 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBI, while Hoskins was 3-for-7 with three runs and three RBI.
Jake Brown, von Roemer and O'Leary each had two-hit games for the Lords, who improved to 14-14 overall and 8-6 in North Coast Athletic Conference play.
Will Oakley, another sophomore, was the most effective pitcher for the Lords and he picked up the win, running his season record to 2-1. Oakley fired two scoreless innings. He didn't yield a hit or a walk and he struck one of the six batters he faced.
Kenyon remains in the thick of the race for one of four postseason positions in the NCAC Tournament. The Lords will look to keep things that way Wednesday, when they travel to Allegheny College for their next conference doubleheader.
