By Anna Dunlavey

The baseball team took a break from conference play this week to defeat two non-conference teams. Saturday was also senior day, and Jake Dunn ’15, Kyle Hardacker ’15, Josh Jacobvitz ’15, Michael Jeffers ’15 and Tim Krahn ’15 were all honored for their four years with the team.
The Lords started the scoring early in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Cleary University, notching five runs in the first inning, but their bats were silenced after that. Starter Thomas Morris ’17 was effective in shutting down Cleary and despite some errors in the third inning Kenyon eked out a 5-3 win.
The second game of the doubleheader was another pitcher’s duel. Jesse Bogacz ’18 pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up five hits and striking out eight. It took until extra innings for a run to score. With one out and the bases loaded, Jono Chafe ’17 reached on a fielder’s choice. Matt von Roemer ’18 was out at the plate, but Cleary’s attempt at a double play failed, and Hardacker scored the walk-off winner. “I was excited that the games were hotly contested and tight,” Head Coach Matt Burdette said.
Tensions were high during Sunday’s game and Cleary’s coach argued that the called third strike from Krahn ended the top of the seventh. In the ensuing argument with the umpire, the coach began throwing his team’s bats out of the dugout and was promptly ejected. In the bottom of both the seventh and eighth innings, Cleary had to pick their poison: face record-breaker Dunn or walk Dunn and load the bases to bring up power hitter Hardacker. Both times, they chose Hardacker, with fatal results. Hardacker drove in two runs both times, more than half the total runs in the Lords’ 7-4 victory. “That’s a luxury for us,” Burdette said. “If they want to pitch around Jake, Kyle’s just as dangerous.”
Tuesday’s game against Wilmington College saw steady scoring for the Lords. Unlike many games this season, with heavy scoring in one inning, the Lords were kept scoreless in just two innings. “I liked the way we went about our business,” Burdette said. Paul Henshaw ’16 kept the Fightin’ Quakers at bay, tying his personal best of nine strikeouts over the course of six innings in an 11-3 Lords victory.
The Lords will travel to Allegheny College this weekend for an important four-game series.