Michael DeBord

Kenyon College's closer stranded the would-be tying run in the top of the seventh of game two, completing a 13-3 and 4-3 sweep of The College of Wooster during North Coast Athletic Conference East Division action Saturday afternoon in Gambier, Ohio.

The two teams will play twice more on Easter Sunday, and those games could wind up determining the divisional winner. Kenyon, which still has another four-game NCAC East series remaining next weekend, is now 10-0 in such games, while Wooster slips to 12-2 and has just Sunday's two games left.

The opener saw the end of two significant milestones for Fighting Scots, as starting pitcher Matt DeGrand (Stow, Ohio / St. Vincent-St. Mary) suffered a loss for the first time in his career and Sean Karpen's (Venetia, Pa. / Peters Twp.) 28-game hitting streak came to an end.

Kenyon, 19-11 overall, set the tone right away with two runs in the second and another in the third for a 3-0 lead. Wooster, now with a 24-6 record, got back into it with a two-run fourth, despite only one hit in the inning – an RBI single for Matthew Pierce (Oklahoma City, Okla. / Casady School). The Scots had a couple of walks and another reached via an error, however, they left the bases loaded.

The Lords bounced right back, plating four runs in the bottom of the fourth. The key hit came when Devin Ensing, with one out and the bases loaded, ripped a ball that got through the right side for two runs and a 5-2 lead. Kenyon padded its lead with two more tallies.

The Scots only managed a Zack Vesco (Pickerington, Ohio / St. Charles Prep) over their next two at bats and then the Lords sealed the win via a six-run sixth inning.

DeGrand, a junior right-hander, had entered the game 13-0 for his career, but suffered the loss by allowing five runs on seven hits over 3.1 innings. Dan White was the winning pitcher, as he improved to 5-0 after throwing a complete game, in which two of the runs were earned on five hits.

An 0-for-4 outing halted Karpen's 28-game hit streak, which marked the second-longest in conference and school history, just one shy of Kurt Kapferer's 29-gamer during the 2006 season.

It did not take long for Karpen to start a new streak as he led off the nightcap with a base hit and scored one out later on Stu Beath's (St. Louis, Mo. / Avon Old Farms – Conn.) single.

Kenyon evened the score in the bottom of the first and then proceeded to pull ahead 4-1 with another tally in the second and two in the third.

Wooster attempted to rally late. In the top of the sixth, Matthew Johnson (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville) reached via a one-out error by his counterpart at shortstop and then stole second base. A hit batsman and another error followed, the latter allowing Johnson to score to make it a 4-2 game. Another hit batsman loaded the bases, still with just one out, however, the Lords minimized the damage with a strikeout, an infield single for Karpen that scored one, and another strikeout.

In the seventh, all the Scots were able to muster was a two-out single from Johnson before Nate Fedor was summoned from the bullpen for his fifth save of the year.

Tom Boucher earned the win (5-1), yielding just one earned run on four hits during 5.1 innings of work, while Justin McDowell (Willard, Ohio / Willard) was saddled with the loss (4-2). He went the first three innings and four runs came across on seven hits and a couple of walks .

Wooster's top hitter of the day was Michael DeBord (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio / Woodridge), who combined to go 3-for-4, while Will Smith had a five-hit, three-RBI day over six at bats for Kenyon.

Opening pitch on Sunday is set for 1 p.m.