FORT PIERCE, Fla.-- After a couple of quick pitchers' duels took place the last time that the Kenyon College baseball team took the field, the subsequent Owls outing could not have been much different. The game between Kenyon and the Lebanon Valley College Dutchmen took nearly three and a half hours to get through nine innings, and the teams combined for 31 hits, 28 runs, and 12 pitchers. Unfortunately for the Owls, the Dutchmen came out on the right side of the 18-10 decision.

Kenyon, who fell to 4-2 after a second straight loss, scored one or more runs in six straight innings, had 15 hits, and committed one less error. However, the Dutchmen, a team coming off consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, improved to 4-3 after turning their 16 hits into 18 runs, including four straight innings with three-plus runs.

Playing as the visitors on field two at the Lawnwood Baseball Complex, the Owls offense looked to be in good shape early after the first two runners reached base. The pair stayed put, however, as Kenyon stranded the first two of the 10 total runners they left on base throughout the game.

The Owls rolled out eight pitchers over the nine-inning game, and Peyton Hodges (1-1) drew the start. The first-year struck out the first LVC batter, but catcher Stephen Carr couldn't come up with the third strike as the leadoff man reached. A hit by pitch helped the home team load the bases with one out, and a hard-hit ball snuck past a diving Dustin Lee to put the Dutchmen ahead 2-0 in the first.

After two more Owls got left on base in the second, another lost ball at the plate nearly helped LVC tack on another run. However, Hodges hustled in and made a heads-up play to grab the loose ball and tag the runner out before touching home.

Edwin Groff and Malcolm Gaynor started the third with consecutive singles before Lee laid down a sacrifice bunt to set Kenyon up with the tying runs in scoring position. Luke Meister made the most of the moved runners, tying the game with a two-RBI single right up the middle. However, the Dutchmen wrenched the momentum right back with three runs on three hits in the frame, two going on Hodges' ledger and one on Andrew Catron, who came on in relief.

The third inning started the stretch of six straight innings in which Kenyon brought a runner around, but it also marked the start of 16 LVC runs over four frames. The Owls scored one run in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, but the Dutchmen scored four in the fourth, five in the fifth, and four more in the sixth to go up 18-5.

To Kenyon's credit, the Owls kept playing hard, and it was all Kenyon over the final three frames. Drew Robinson slapped a leadoff single for his second hit, and backup catcher Ben Nash drove in Kenyon's sixth run with a single to left center. Nate Rosen added a run in the next at-bat with an RBI, capping a 2-for-3 day in which he added two runs, a triple, and a walk.

First-year Jack Enger struck out the side in a 1-2-3 seventh inning, and the Owls got right back to business by putting two runners on to start the eighth. Parker Gibbons came up for his season's first at-bat, and the junior jumped on a ball that sailed over the right field wall for a three-run round-tripper, the first home run of his career.

The scoring stopped in the ninth inning, putting a bow on the 18-10 LVC victory. Jace Fetterman had a game-high five RBIs while hitting 3-for-4 for the Dutchmen, followed closely by Ryan Murphy's four RBI, 3-for-4 day. Four LVC players got familiar with home plate and came around to score three runs apiece. Andrew Spaan (1-0) earned the win after throwing 98 pitches over five innings, striking out seven Owls and allowing four runs on eight hits and three walks.

Groff led Kenyon with three hits in a game-high six at-bats. Gaynor, Robinson, and Rosen each had two-hit games, and Gaynor (3) and Rosen (2) scored multiple runs. Gibbons (3) and Meister (2) led the Owls in RBIs after each had a multi-RBI hit. Enger was fantastic in two innings of relief, ringing up a team-leading five strikeouts and allowing just one of six batters to reach base.

Kenyon has an off day before a doubleheader against Norwich University on Friday, March 8. After playing all of their spring break games in Fort Pierce, Florida, to this point, the Owls will head north to the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, where the first pitch is set for 10 a.m. at Holman Stadium.