The Kenyon baseball team continued conference play over the last week with a quartet of games at home. After splitting a doubleheader with the DePauw University Tigers on Saturday, the Owls swept the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops on Wednesday. Kenyon’s record currently stands at 12-11 (5-3 NCAC).
On Saturday, neither team was able to muster much offense to open game one, until Robbie Coates ’26 and Nate Rosen ’25 led off the third inning with a pair of singles. With one out and two runners in scoring position, Edwin Groff ’25 laced a single into center field to bring home Coates and give Kenyon a 1-0 lead. After Parker Gibbons ’25 hit a two-out triple in the fifth, Groff doubled the Owls’ advantage with another RBI single. An RBI double in the sixth inning from the Tigers knocked Frank Lynch ’25 out of the game, but Christian Harris ’25 came in to close things out, holding DePauw scoreless and earning his first save of the season. In the bottom of the sixth, the previously dormant Kenyon bats came alive, tacking on three runs in the frame and capitalizing on costly errors by the road team. The Owls got another three runs in the eighth on their way to an 8-1 win.
Lynch, who struck out five and picked up the win, praised the team’s defense and credited a strong gameplan for his success. “All the pitchers who took the mound were getting ahead of the hitters in counts, and our defense made some stellar plays, backing the pitchers up,” he wrote in an email to the Collegian.
In game two, the Owls were once again quiet on offense, as DePauw held Kenyon hitless for the first three innings. However, in a reversal from game one, it was the Tigers who took a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning. The Owls struggled to piece together hits until the seventh inning, when a single from Tyler Nee ’27 allowed Dustin Lee ’25 to score, and an RBI fielder’s choice from Luke Meister ’25 tied the game. Kenyon took the lead thanks to some heads-up baserunning from Nee, who stole home while DePauw attempted to catch Rosen stealing second. In the top of the eighth, starting pitcher Lewis Cropper ’25 allowed a one-out single, and the Owls brought on Jack Enger ’27 to shut down the Tigers. Unfortunately, the first DePauw batter he faced deposited a pitch over the right-field fence to give the visitors a 4-3 lead, which stood as the final score. Lynch emphasized the importance of maintaining a high level of competition throughout all 18 innings. “The games and days can be long, and ensuring that the focus and energy stay up will be key going forward to make sure we come out on top in the second game,” he said.
Ohio Wesleyan got out to a quick start in Wednesday’s doubleheader, as the Battling Bishops got the scoring started with a run in the first inning. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that Kenyon got on the board, as Meister scored on a wild pitch. One at-bat later, Ben Resnick ’27 crushed a double to bring in a pair of runs and put the Owls up 3-1. After Ohio Wesleyan scored six in the top of the sixth inning, Kenyon bounced right back in the bottom half of the inning, as Rosen scored on an error before Gibbons blasted a huge three-run home run to tie the game at seven. The Battling Bishops took a one-run lead in the seventh, but that lead quickly evaporated after a solo home run from Lee in the eighth. In the bottom of the ninth inning, with the game tied, Will Nelson ’28 gave Kenyon some life with a single before Rosen and Lee each walked to load the bases. With two outs, Meister stepped up to the plate and smacked a grand slam to secure the walk-off win in dramatic fashion.
Once again, it was Ohio Wesleyan that struck first in game two, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. However, Kenyon continued its resiliency, evening up the score on an RBI double from Gibbons in the bottom half of the fourth. The Battling Bishops responded with runs in the fifth and sixth innings to go up 3-1, before the Owls re-tied the games on RBI singles from Lee and Gibbons. From there, it was all Kenyon, as the Owls scored four runs in the eighth inning. First, Rosen scored on an error before Gibbons drove in two more runs on a single and Meister delivered the final blow on a sacrifice fly to cement the 7-4 victory.
The Owls will head west on Saturday to face off against the Wabash College Little Giants. Rosen believes that Kenyon’s destiny is within its control. “The season is entirely ours for the taking,” he wrote in an email to the Collegian. “Having a win-at-all-costs mentality for every single conference game we play for the rest of the year is going to be key in our push for the playoffs.” For Lynch and the other seniors, bringing the Owls back to the postseason would be the perfect cap to their careers on the Hill. “Getting Kenyon Baseball back to the playoffs should hopefully set the standard that this program is always in the hunt for a conference championship,” he said.