FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- Friday afternoon's baseball game between the Kenyon College Owls and Lebanon Valley College Flying Dutchmen was an exciting back-and-forth affair that saw five lead changes over nine innings. The Owls (1-4) bounced back on multiple occasions and grabbed a ninth-inning lead in dramatic fashion, but the Dutchmen (4-6) dealt out their own dramatics, winning 6-5 on a walk-off.

Kenyon had multiple highlights, including another strong starting pitching performance and a second straight solid offensive output. The Owls tied their season high with a second straight five-run outing, and the bats combined for season-highs of nine hits and five RBIs.

Seniors Edwin Groff and Dustin Lee combined for five hits and four RBIs as the duo powered Kenyon's offense from the top of the order. Lee led the way with three RBIs and a run while hitting 2-for-5, while Groff garnered a game-high three hits and two runs, going 3-for-5 with an RBI. The classmates each homered for the second straight game, with both big hits giving Kenyon leads in the ballgame.

On the mound, Theo Canning Canning finished his day after five full innings, racking up six strikeouts while allowing just one run on three hits and two walks. Canning settled in after giving up a run in the first inning, and he ran through the finish line with three outs on five pitches in the fourth before three huge strikeouts in the fifth, where he worked around a one-out walk and mowed down the top two batters of the LVC order.

With Canning fanning the Flying Dutchmen hitters, it was Lee's offense that boosted the Owls early. In the third inning, Nate Rosen battled back from 0-2 to work a walk, and the senior stole a base to get in scoring position. Lee landed an RBI double down the right-field line, tying the game at 1-1. In his next at-bat, Lee launched a no-doubt home run to left center, breaking the tie and putting the Owls ahead 3-1 in the fifth.

The lead was short-lived, however, as LVC hung three runs on the Owls in the bottom of the sixth after two hits and two walks. The scoring was backed up by a seven-pitch, 1-2-3 top of the seventh against the heart of Kenyon's order as the Flying Dutchmen led 4-3.

Kenyon kept fighting as Niko Price notched a second straight hit in his eighth-inning at-bat. After a Parker Gibbons single and a flyout had the Owls with runners on the corners and two outs, Will Nelson stepped in to pinch hit in a huge spot. The first-year was up to the task, and his season's first hit was an RBI single that tied the game at 4-4.

Jack Enger grounded the Flying Dutchmen in the bottom of the inning, closing out 2.1 scoreless relief innings. Groff stepped up to lead off the ninth inning, and the designated hitter did just that, designating a hit up and over the left-field wall to put the Owls up 5-4.

Groff came back out in the bottom of the ninth, this time on the mound as the senior was looking for his season's second save. Unfortunately, he could not close out the win, walking the first two batters before conceding two singles, the last of which was a two-RBI walk-off hit.

The Owls will get back to work in short order with two chances to add to the win column tomorrow. Kenyon will match up with Wheaton College (Ill.) for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 8, with first pitch scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Lawnwood Baseball Complex.