GAMBIER, Ohio – Inclement weather again played a factor into the Allegheny College baseball team's series against Kenyon College this afternoon, but the Gators were able to finish up the second game of yesterday's North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) doubleheader by defeating the Lords in eight innings, 17-4.
Holding a 13-3 lead over the 21-and-a-half hour weather suspension, Allegheny (19-12, 10-4 NCAC) allowed one run in the bottom of the seventh to briefly extend the game before scoring four in the top of the eighth.
The victory extends the Gators' win streak to nine games. Allegheny has scored double-digits in five of those contests and have outscored its opponents, 98-44, during this stretch.
The Gators fell behind Kenyon (20-15, 6-8 NCAC) in the bottom of the first after a Phillip Nam single off of
Wyatt Sibiga scored Jackson Celestin. That deficit didn't last long, however, as the visitors scored three in the top of the second courtesy of two errors and a two-run base hit from
Ethan Pawlak.
The Lords responded with a run in the second and one in the third to tie the game at 3-3.
Allegheny exploded for six runs in the top of the fourth to regain a 9-3 advantage. Pawlak continued his tear with a single the other way that scored
Jacob Shick, followed by back-to-back errors that plated
Brandon Pouch and his fellow classmate.
Robert DiMaggio and
Joe Killian then hit back-to-back RBI singles to keep the train moving, while
Dan Bonnett brought in the sixth run with a fielder's choice.
In the top of the sixth, Pouch ripped a two-out single up the middle to score Killian and make it 10-3.
The Gators added three in the seventh before the skies opened up.
Cullen Flaherty and
Austin Bristol tallied back-to-back base hits, followed by a DiMaggio RBI single to right. Killian smacked a two-bagger down the leftfield line to plate Bristol, then Bonnett scored DiMaggio on a sacrifice fly.
The game continued this afternoon with two outs in the top of the seventh. After the Lords retired Shick, they extended the contest with a Nam RBI base knock off of
Tyler Wagner in the bottom half.
That just gave the Allegheny offense a chance to add to its impressive resume as the new frame saw the visitors score four on a Killian grand slam.
Bolt Seymour led the inning off with a single in his first career at-bat and Pawlak continued his strong series with a base hit of his own. Sandwiched between a Flaherty flyout and a DiMaggio popout was a Bristol walk, loading the bases for the senior slugger. Killian's round-tripper was his sixth of the season, tripling his career total heading into 2016.
After giving up a run in his first outing of the season, Wagner retired Kenyon in order to seal the victory.
Sibiga earned the win with six innings of three-run (two earned) ball, allowing six hits and a walk opposite of one strikeout.
Both Pawlak and Killian enjoyed four-hit games, and each came around to score a pair of runs.
The victory clinched the second seed in the NCAC East division for the Gators, setting next weekend's NCAC Crossover series against either DePauw University or Wabash College to take place at the Robertson Athletic Complex.
Allegheny and Kenyon will not make up the remainder of this series after rain washed out the third game in the bottom of the fourth. The Gators will return to action on Wednesday, May 4 at John Carroll University.
