FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- The Kenyon College baseball team maintained their strong start to the spring, improving to 5-2 with a win in game two of a doubleheader against Penn State Behrend. The twin bill saw both teams pick up similarly dominant wins, with the Lions earning an 8-2 victory in game one before the Owls secured the series split with a 9-1 win in game two.
Impressive pitching contributed to both wins, as neither offense had particularly outstanding outings. In game one, PSU Behrend's Derrick Shields (1-1) secured a complete-game victory with nine strikeouts, four hits, and one walk. The strong performance was only outdone by Kenyon's Lewis Cropper (1-0), who pitched a gem in game two. The sophomore struck out 12 Lions without a walk, allowing just five hits and one run in the complete-game victory. The one-dozen strikeouts doubled Cropper's career high, and the complete game was Kenyon's first this season.
Game one went PSUB's way early as the Lions scored four runs in the first and third innings to go ahead 8-0. Andrew Catron allowed four runs on three hits and two walks after a 34-pitch top of the first, while Shields needed just nine pitches to sit the Owls down in order to start the game.
Parker Gibbons produced a second-inning highlight by throwing out a runner at the plate to save a run, but four unearned runs in the third frame essentially decided the seven-inning contest. Kenyon's first baserunner came in the bottom of the third after going seven up, seven down, and the Owls scored a two-out run after Drew Robinson hit an RBI single. However, Kenyon left the bases loaded as the offense could not close the gap.
Edwin Groff tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth, but the Owls came out on the wrong end of an 8-2 decision after seven innings. Jackson Niedel provided four good innings of relief, allowing just one hit to help save the Owls' bullpen. Kenyon's four hits came from Robinson, Groff, and Stephen Carr. Carr went 2-2 with two doubles and a walk, setting up a day at the plate that went entirely his way.
In game two, the junior catcher went 0-0, but he reached base all four times, scored twice, and earned an RBI after two walks and two hit-by-pitches. Kenyon's offense did not need to do much heavy lifting in game two, but the Owls still scored nine runs on eight hits thanks in part to working six walks. Malcolm Gaynor was the only player to notch a multi-hit game, going 2-3 with two runs, two walks, and a double. Groff and Sam Howell tied for the game-high with two RBIs after both Owls secured two-RBI singles.
Penn State Behrend opened the second game with a run in the bottom of the first inning as the Lions looked to be riding their game-one momentum. It could have been a two-run start, but Robinson threw a baserunner out at third for the final out just before another run touched home plate.
The big out flipped the switch for the Owls, especially defensively, as Cropper and Kenyon dominated the rest of the way. Offensively, Kenyon's offense picked up their pitcher with four runs in the top of the second after loading the bases before the first out. Dustin Lee scored on a wild pitch ahead of Howell's two-RBI single, and Howell came across to add an unearned run and put Kenyon up 4-1.
Cropper chalked up seven strikeouts over the next three innings, striking out the side in the second and fourth and sitting PSUB down in order in the third. A fielding error with two outs in the third produced two more unearned runs for Kenyon, who led 6-1. Cropper struck out a fifth straight batter in the fifth before the Owls added three runs in the sixth, and the starter came back out to throw a 1-2-3 bottom of the penultimate inning.
Kenyon manufactured a three-run sixth inning thanks to three walks, an error, a hit-by-pitch, and just one hit. The hit, a two-RBI single from Groff, scored two runs, including one unearned, before Carr picked up an RBI with a bases-loaded walk. Cropper came in to close out the 9-1 victory in the seventh, recording all three outs after a groundout right back to the mound and two strikeouts, one looking and one swinging.
Only using three pitchers across the doubleheader will help the Owls, who have a quick turnaround with games each of the next two days. Tomorrow, March 11, Kenyon is set to take on Washington College (MD) (3-6) at noon at the Bob Gladwin Baseball Complex at Lawnwood.
