DELAWARE, Ohio – After a handful of cancellations and postponements, all due to the unfavorable weather conditions over the last two weeks, the Kenyon College baseball team finally got back to action on Thursday, 19 days after it last played.
The rust was somewhat apparent, at least early on, as the Lords managed a total of four runs in the first 16 innings of a North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader at Ohio Wesleyan University. After dropping game one, 9-3, the Lords amassed six runs in the final two innings of a 7-6 game-two win that salvaged a split with the Battling Bishops.
Trailing 3-1 after seven innings of game two, Kenyon got an eighth-inning solo home run from senior
Matt von Roemer. That was followed by a ninth-inning, five-run outburst.
In that final inning, pinch hitter
Trenton DiFilippo started off with a single and then
Ryan Page walked. After a ground out,
Mikey Arman, who had a big day at the plate, was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Alex Hoskins then stepped in and was hit by a pitch to score the first run of the inning. Next up, von Roemer reached on a fielder's choice to score the second run. Two batters later,
Matt Contreras laced a single to right field, scoring two more. A passed ball allowed von Roemer to score Kenyon's fifth and final run of the inning.
Ohio Wesleyan fired back with three runs in the bottom of the ninth, but Kenyon reliever
Will Oakley survived a shaky outing by leaving the game-tying run stranded on second base.
Before that ninth-inning scoring spree, game two was a pitchers' duel for eight innings. Freshman
Patrick Craig got the start for Kenyon. He didn't yield a hit until the fourth inning and didn't give up a run until a pair of the unearned variety crossed the plate in the sixth. Craig ended up tossing six and two-thirds innings. He gave up three runs, but only one was earned. He struck out six, walked one and yielded seven hits.
Sophomore hurler
Nathan Chandler, who struck out two in the eighth inning, was credited with the win.
In game one, Kenyon got another solid showing on the mound from junior
Ross Scheinberg, who took over for starter
Will Allen in the bottom of the third inning with the team trailing 8-2. Scheinberg gave up one run in that inning, but ended up closing out the game by throwing five and two-thirds, striking out five and giving up just five hits and one walk.
Prior to the Ohio Wesleyan scoring, which included six runs in the second inning and three more in the third, Kenyon got on the board first, scoring twice in the first frame. Arman got things rolling with a leadoff single.
Jake Brown then doubled, sending Arman to third. An Ohio Wesleyan fielding error at the end of the play allowed both runners to move up. The next batter, von Roemer, grounded out to second, allowing Brown to score the Lords' second run.
From that point, things went south for the Lords. Ohio Wesleyan sent ten men to the plate in the second inning and another seven to the plate in the third. In the second, the Battling Bishops produced one walk, four singles, a double and a two-run home run to take a 6-2 lead. One inning later, they put together a single and three doubles to chase Allen from the mound.
Kenyon's only other run the rest of the way came on a solo home run to left field struck by Arman, who was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. In the two games combined, Arman was 6-for-9 with four runs scored, a walk and a .700 on-base percentage.
DiFilippo, Hoskins, Contreras and von Roemer each had a pair of hits in the two-game set.
