FORT PIERCE, Fla. – The Kenyon College baseball team made quick work of the Northland College Lumberjacks, sweeping a Friday doubleheader by scores of 10-1 and 7-2. With those wins, Head Coach
Matt Burdette surpassed his 400th career victory.
Burdette has been at the helm of Kenyon baseball since the 1996 season. His win total far exceeds any other coach in the program's 128-year history. Burdette is a four-time North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and he's had more than 80 of his players awarded positions on All-NCAC teams.
Junior pitcher
Patrick Craig made it easy for Burdette to collect win No. 400 in Friday's first game. The lefty cruised through seven innings of work, allowing just one unearned run on two hits and a walk. He struck out 13 Northland batters and, from the second inning through the fourth inning, he fanned nine straight.
At the plate, the Lords gave Craig all the run support he needed in the first inning. Back-to-back singles from
Andrew Rabinowitz and
Patrick O'Leary were followed by a run-scoring double from
Alex Gow and then a two-run single from
J.J. Conway.
The Lords tacked on one more run in the second inning and then blew the game open with a five-run third inning that featured a two-run home run from O'Leary. It was his first homer of the season and the 15th of his career.
O'Leary and
Alexander Hoskins both went 3-for-4 in game one and combined for three runs scored and two RBI.
Ryan Page was 3-for-5 with a stolen base and two runs scored. Rabinowitz, Gow and
Paul Siciliano all had two hits for Kenyon, which racked up a total of 17.
The Lords (3-5) got more fantastic pitching in game two. Freshman right-hander
Ayden Head whipped through five innings of work to collect his first collegiate win. He gave up two unearned runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out five and gave way to
Joel Biery and
Nathan Chandler, who each worked a scoreless inning of relief to close out the game.
With bats in hand, the Lords opened game two with another three-run first inning. Four straight singles from Page, Rabinowitz, Gow and Conway set the stage. Gow's single scored Page. Hoskins then hit a sacrifice fly to score Rabinowitz and an
Eric DelRosso groundout pushed Gow across the plate.
The Lords scored one more in each the fourth and fifth innings and then capped off the game with a two-run sixth inning that saw both
Joaquin Murrieta and Rabinowitz score after a double and single, respectively.
Rabinowitz had three hits in game two, making him a combined 5-for-7 in the doubleheader. Gow, Conway and Murrieta finished with two hits apiece in the game-two win.
Saturday is a day off for Kenyon. Sunday, the Lords will play a single nine-inning game against Dominican University with first pitch slated for 10 a.m.