GAMBIER, Ohio -- Playing its penultimate home outing, the Kenyon College baseball team secured two essential wins to stay in the hunt for a postseason North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) tournament berth. The Owls dispatched the DePauw University Tigers on each end of the doubleheader, winning 15-5 in eight innings before a 13-7 decision in game two.

The victories boosted Kenyon's record to 19-12 this season, including a 6-6 mark against NCAC competition. With the wins, the Owls pulled within a half-game of Wabash College (22-13, 6-5 NCAC) in the conference standings. The top four teams earn a spot in the NCAC Tournament, and Kenyon is currently sitting in fifth behind the Little Giants. Meanwhile, DePauw dropped to 11-21 overall this season and 3-9 in the NCAC.

Before the doubleheader, the Owls celebrated senior day by recognizing three graduating seniors. Kenyon's senior class includes Jake Davidson, Kyle Dwyer, and Sam Richards.

Kenyon's offense was clicking on all cylinders, racking up 28 runs and 27 hits over the doubleheader. DePauw tallied 21 hits of their own, but the Owls held the Tigers to 12 combined runs while benefiting from two additional DePauw errors in each game.

Game one got off on the right foot as the Owls opened up a four-run lead in the bottom of the second. Dwyer hit an RBI double in Kenyon's second at-bat, and Drew Robinson picked up a pair of RBIs with a one-out single through the right side. After Robinson advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt, Nate Rosen hit a sacrifice fly to increase the advantage to 4-0.

Unfortunately for the Owls, DePauw returned the favor two innings later with four runs on three hits and an error. All four runs were charged to Theo Canning, but two came across with Frank Lynch on the mound. The Owls thought the inning was over after seemingly catching a Tiger stealing, but the umpire called him safe. Lynch then gave up a two-strike, two-run single that tied the game at 4-4, but Tripper Capps made an excellent play on a softly-hit ball to end the threat and preserve the tie.

Kenyon's offense immediately picked its pitchers up, putting up three runs in the bottom of the frame. All of the runs came with two outs. The first came home on a failed pickoff attempt after two hit-by-pitches, and Capps and Stephen Carr batted in runs in the next two at-bats to reestablish the Owls' lead at 7-4. 

The Owls added three more in the fifth after a Robinson triple, a Rosen walk, and a three-run blast from Malcolm Gaynor, his fourth this season. DePauw chipped away with a run in the top of the seventh, but Kenyon got the run back when Gaynor hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the frame.

After a 1-2-3 top of the eighth with Edwin Groff on the mound, the Owls came to the plate looking to clinch an expedited win. Capps and Carr reached to lead off the inning before Robbie Coates hit an RBI single in his first at-bat of the game. Niko Price came up with Kenyon holding a 13-5 edge, and the first-year launched his second home run in as many games, a walk-off round-tripper that secured a 15-5 Kenyon win that ended in the eighth due to the run rule.

Gaynor, Capps, and Carr notched two-hit games, while Robinson led the game with three. Gaynor led the way with four RBIs, and all but one Kenyon batter came around to score, while five Owls scored twice. 

Canning and Lynch each finished with four strikeouts. Lynch's record improved to 4-1 after pitching 2.1 innings of relief to earn the win.

DePauw nearly opened up a significant game-two lead, loading the bases after a pair of hit batters sandwiched a single. However, Lewis Cropper bore down and struck out the next three batters to escape the jam. Cropper and the Owls did not have the same fortune in the second inning when the Tigers scored a two-out run after a pair of doubles, and another hit batter in the frame.

Like in game one, the Kenyon offense quickly picked up its pitcher. Price led off the inning with a walk before Zimmerman, the seven-hitter, ripped a high drive into left-center field that carried over the wall and put the Owls up 2-1. Robinson kept it going, working a walk before stealing two bases on two pitches. Gaynor followed through by picking up an RBI groundout to add a run to the lead, and Kenyon led 5-1 when the dust settled at the end of the second.

Back-to-back RBI triples from Robinson and Rosen in the bottom of the third made it 7-1, but the Tigers halted the Kenyon momentum with a four-run top of the fourth. However, the Owls ripped the momentum right back. With Andrew Catron on in relief in the fifth, Capps and Carr combined for a putout at home before Catron induced an inning-ending double-play.

From there, the offense got back on track by scoring twice and putting the first four runners on base before making an out. Rosen reached on a leadoff error, and Gaynor smashed his second homer of the day to put the Owls up 9-5. Price picked up a two-out RBI single to double-up on DePauw, 10-5, before the end of the inning.

Carr caught consecutive runners stealing to start the sixth, and the Owls pushed their lead to 12-5 in the bottom of the frame after Groff laced a two-RBI double off the left-field wall. The Tigers responded with back-to-back two-out RBI doubles in the eighth, cutting the margin back to five at 12-7. 

Enter Rosen, who hit his first homer of the season in the bottom of the eighth to tack another run onto the lead. Richards sealed the game-two win as the Owls clinched the doubleheader sweep with a 13-7 victory.

Groff was on fire in game two, going 5-6 at the plate with two runs and two RBIs. The sophomore's five hits are tied for the second-best single-game total in Kenyon history. Gaynor led the Owls in the RBI department with three, finishing with seven on the day. 

Catron (1-3) earned his first win as the first-year pitched 3.2 innings and allowed just two runs.