After beating the No. 23 ranked Tabor College Bluejays 27-7 in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Dean Evans Stadium, what ever could the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes do for an encore in the second game.
A walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh inning, of course.
Tyler Favretto supplied the fireworks, hitting a 3-run walk-off homer to propel the Coyotes to an 8-5 win in the nightcap. It was Favretto's second of the game, and third of the day.
Tabor led the second game 2-1 after two innings, but the Coyotes got three runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 4-2 lead.
Alex Garcia led off the inning with a single and
Jacob Williamson and
Kendall Foster walked to load the bases. Gable brought in a run hitting into a double play, and
Cruz Oxford followed with a RBI single and two batters later
Reece Bishop had a RBI single.
Tabor got a run back in the fourth and tied it in the top of the fifth.
The score stayed deadlocked at 4-4 until the seventh with Tabor took the lead 5-4 on an RBI double by Micah Dvorak.
Then came the Coyote heroics. Williamson led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, and went to third when Foster flew out. Gable was hit by a pitch, and Oxford reached on an fielder's choice that did not yield an out as Gable was safe at second on an error and William scored.
Up stepped Favretto who crushed the ball out to center field for the walk off victory.
Williamson, Favretto and Garcia had two hits each. Favretto drove in four runs.
Ryan Sandoval got the win for the Coyotes.
The opener looked like it was going to be a shootout as Tabor took a 2-0 lead in the first but the Coyote bats were just about to get started.
Williamson led off the Coyote first with a double and then it was a 2-out rally for the Coyotes. Gable walked and Favretto was hit by a pitch ahead of
Reece Bishop stepping to the plate. Bishop quickly unloaded the bases with a grand slam to put KWU up 4-2.
Zack Beatty followed with a solo homer to make it 5-2.
The Coyotes exploded for 11 runs in the second. Williamson led off with a single, and Foster followed with a ground-rule double to right. Gable was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Oxford drove in the first two runs with a single up the middle. Favretto was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Bishop walked to force in a run.
Beatty then crushed a grand slam out to right center for the Coyotes.
Adrian Villalobos reached on an error, Garcia walked, Williamson was hit ahead of a wild pitch bringing in a run. Foster then tripled to bring in a run and Gable followed with a 2-run homer.
The Coyotes hit four more homers in the third inning scoring five runs. Favretto, Bishop, Villalobos and Garcia all hit balls out for the Coyotes, all around a double by Beatty. It was Garcia's first homer of the season.
Tabor got a run on the board in the fourth, and got two more in the fifth.
Villalobos, the reigning NAIA Player of the Week hit his second homer of the game in the fifth to extend Wesleyan's lead and hit another in the sixth for three homers in the game as KWU extended the lead out to 27-5. Oxford added an RBI single, and Bishop hit a 3-run homer in the inning as well.
Tabor got two back in the seventh.
Bishop drove in nine runs in the game going 3-for-4 with three homers, just missing the home-run cycle, needing a 2-run shot to complete the feat. Beatty and Villalobos had three hit each, while the first five batters in the lineup for the Coyotes had two hits each.
Jarrett Brannen was again solid for the Coyotes on the mound, going six and a third, allowing seven runs on nine hits, with 11 strikeouts.
Cesar Rodriguez closed it out getting a double play to end it.
The teams meet again on Sunday at 1 p.m. for the final game of the series at The Dean.
