Salina, Kan – With a chance to avenge their regular season series with the Coyotes, the McPherson Bulldogs were paired up with the No. 1 seeded and host Kansas Wesleyan. In their last matchup with the Coyotes, the Bulldogs were run out of TC Construction Field as Kansas Wesleyan won 13-2, securing the regular season series sweep over McPherson.
The Basics
Location: Dean Evans Stadium
Records: MC 27-22 (22-14 KCAC), KWU 44-7 (32-4 KCAC)
Score: MC 11, KWU 5
How it Happened
Kadin Gehring was the man on the mound to start off McPherson’s second game of the KCAC Tournament, entering the ballgame with a 5.15 era and 79 punchouts on the year.
Kansas Wesleyan’s Fernando Ruvalcaba drove in a run on an RBI single through the left side to find the first run of the game in the top of the first inning (McPherson was the home team in this ballgame with KWU serving as the home team in their first game against York). This run would be matched with Jaylon Woodley’s opposite-field in the bottom half of the inning; this was just Woodley’s fourth home run of the year.
Later in the inning, Troy Stukenberg gave the Bulldogs the lead with a two-RBI double, driving in Marcus Patton and Myles Vazquez for the 3-1 lead. Continuing his stellar week in Salina, Will Sevier batted in the final run of the inning to drive in Stukenberg on an RBI single to center field. In the third inning, Connor Baker’s RBI single made it five consecutive runs scored by the Bulldogs, holding a 5-1 lead heading into the fourth.
Kansas Wesleyan’s Zac Goldenberg had enough of the Coyotes’ drought and blasted a two-run homer to left field, bringing the visitors on the scoreboard to within two runs of the Bulldogs. Vazquez erased the momentum from Kansas Wesleyan in the bottom half of the inning with a home run of his own; this time, he drove in three runs to extend McPherson’s lead to 8-3.
Blake Dale opened the fifth inning with a homer to center field, followed by Tyler Nordyke’s RBI single to center field. Unfortunately for the Coyotes, this was the last run scored by Kansas Wesleyan for the remainder of the night.
Jared Kramp’s RBI single in the bottom half of the inning put the Bulldogs back on top by four runs at 9-5. Later on, Kramp would steal second and the throw from the plate sailed into the outfield, allowing Ky’rell Taylor to score from third to give the Bulldogs a 10-5 lead. Vazquez continued his night with an RBI double to drive in Kramp for a six-run lead over the Coyotes.
Just when it looked like Kansas Wesleyan would put themselves back into this one with bases loaded and just one out, Nico Gonzalez made his presence known on the mound after relieving Hunter Boneau. As he did all regular season, Gonzalez was put into quite the pinch and delivered when it mattered most. It took just three pitches for Garrett Garfield to ground out to Kramp over at third. Kramp stepped on the bag for the force out at third, throwing across the diamond to deliver the game’s most valuable double play (quite frankly, the most valuable play of the game) to maintain the six-run lead.
The Bulldogs rocked with Gonzalez for the duration of the ballgame, and why wouldn’t they; the Coyotes were three-up-three-down for the seventh and eighth innings, unable to hit the submariner from the mound.
In the ninth inning with bases load for the Coyotes, Niko Olson flew out Will Sevier in left field to give McPherson the upset win over the No. 1 seed in the KCAC bracket.
They will play Friday night at 7:00 PM; their opponent will be the winner of the No. 4 Friends and No. 1 Kansas Wesleyan matchup taking place on Friday afternoon at 12:00 PM. Watch all the action on the Urban Edge Network.
