Salina, Kan – For the third time this week, McPherson College and Kansas Wesleyan would go toe-to-toe with a spot in the KCAC Championship on the line. The night prior, the Coyotes had their way at Dean Evans Stadium by way of 10-1, giving themselves another shot against the Bulldogs.
The Basics
Location: Dean Evans Stadium
Records: MC 27-23 (22-14 KCAC), KWU 46-7 (32-4 KCAC)
Score: MC 11, KWU 15 (12 Innings)
How it Happened
Jameson Caro got the nod on the mound for Saturday afternoon after throwing for seven full innings of baseball in McPherson’s first game of the tournament when they defeated the Friends University Falcons.
The Coyotes began their Saturday with a two-run shot to left center field from Fernando Ruvalcaba that gave Kansas Wesleyan the early 2-0 lead.
McPherson tripled their runs from the night prior in the first inning alone, taking a 3-2 lead following the bottom half of the inning. With two outs, Troy Stukenberg drove in two runs on RBI single to right field to knot the game at 2-2. Connor Baker followed Will Sevier’s walk with an RBI single of his own, this time up the middle to give McPherson the 3-2 lead heading into the second.
After one and a half innings of scoreless baseball, Baker picked up his second RBI of the day with a single to right field, driving in Marcus Patton and giving the Bulldogs a two-run lead over the Coyotes.
In the bottom of the fourth, Jared Kramp sent a blast over the right field wall to extend McPherson’s lead to 6-2.
After Patton was thrown out at first base to end the fourth inning, he and Ruvalcaba had an unpleasant exchange that resulted in the ejection of Patton and Ruvalcaba. Austin Easter entered the game for Patton as the designated hitter.
Following a scoreless fifth inning, Kansas Wesleyan had found their mojo on offense. The Coyotes put together a six-run inning off of three hits. McPherson needed three pitchers to get out of the jam and found themselves down 8-6 heading into the bottom of the sixth. Kramp managed a single to right field in the bottom half and drove in Ky’rell Taylor to cut the lead to just one run, but the Coyotes would answer in the top of the seventh with Tyler Nordyke’s RBI double to left field, stretching the lead back to two runs.
Kansas Wesleyan found another run in the top of the eighth to give themselves a 10-7 lead over the Bulldogs. Jaylon Woodley matched the run in the bottom half with a sacrifice fly out to center field to bring McPherson to within two.
Kadin Gehring got out of a massive pinch in the top of the ninth, giving McPherson a realistic opportunity in the bottom half to extend the ballgame.
With runners on second and third, Colt Uphold, with no hits on the day, grounded up the middle to drive in the two runs needed to force extra innings of baseball.
In the top of the tenth with bases loaded, Matthew Bomersback was also able to work out of the jam and allow no damage done by the Coyotes. It would take just one run to advance McPherson to the KCAC Championship.
With two outs, Myles Vazquez stepped to the plate. On a 1-1 pitch, Vazquez lifted one deep to right field hooking left to right. By about two feet, it would go just right of the foul pole. He would ground out to the short stop on the next pitch and we would head to the top of the 11th inning.
After another scoreless frame the Coyotes, the Bulldogs once again found themselves with another opportunity to advance to what would’ve been a 2:30 first pitch in the Championship game; that time was pushed due to this game going for almost four hours.
With runners on third and second, McPherson stranded both runners and the game would continue into the top of the 12th.
This is where the Coyotes scored their first runs since the top of the eighth; and it happened to be the difference in this one. Kansas Wesleyan would score five runs off of three hits and an error. They held a 15-10 lead heading into the bottom of the 12th.
Vazquez managed a two-out RBI single to cut the lead to four runs, but this was all the Bulldogs could put together as the Coyotes advanced to the KCAC Championship with the 15-11 victory over McPherson. The Coyotes went on to win the KCAC title over Oklahoma Wesleyan 11-10 shortly after, handing the Eagles their first loss of the tournament.
