BOSSIER CITY, La. – After jumping out to an early lead, the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes saw the advantage disappear in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Concordia Bulldogs in the first round of the NAIA Opening Round Shreveport Bracket.
Remain calm and Coyote on.
Wesleyan scored nine unanswered runs over the next three innings to take the lead back and go on to a 15-8 win over the second-seeded Bulldogs at Bossier Parish Community College.
The teams were supposed to meet on Monday, but weather washed out games, and poor field conditions at LSU-Shreveport's Pilot Field forced tournament officials to move the games to BPCC.
The Coyotes jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, as
Jacob Williamson led off the game with a homer to center, and after
Kendall Foster was hit by a pitch,
Jarrett Gable homered to left center to put KWU up 3-0.
Cruz Oxford walked and
Tyler Favretto tallied his NAIA-leading 61st walk of the season to put two more on for the Coyotes, but KWU could not push another run across.
Concordia answered right back as the Bulldogs led off the bottom of the inning with four straight singles that yielded two runs, but the Coyotes would limit the damage, ending the inning on a double play.
KWU got right back to work in the second as Williamson singled with one out in the inning, and then Foster and Gable walked to load the bases for Oxford to drive in a run with a hit to right. Favretto was hit by a pitch to push another run across and
Reece Bishop was then hit by a pitch to force in a third run of the inning.
After the first inning chaos, KWU starter
Jarrett Brannen settled in over the next three innings, but got into trouble in the fifth as Concordia plated six runs to take an 8-6 lead in the game. All of Concordia's runs came without an extra base hit.
Foster started the KWU rally in the top of the sixth that put the Coyotes up for good with a single and went to third on Gable's double. Oxford grounded out, but a run scored to get the Coyotes on the board. Favretto followed with an RBI single to tie things up. Bishop followed with a triple to drive in the go-ahead run and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-8 Coyotes.
Wesleyan added three more in the seventh as
Alex Garcia led off the inning with a single and then scored when Favretto singled with the bases loaded along with Foster to make it 12-8. Oxford then scored on a walk to Bishop on a wild pitch.
KT Gearlds came in for the bottom of the inning and struck out the side ahead of KWU adding two more runs in the top of the eighth. Garcia reached on a single and then scored when Foster crushed a ball out to right field for a 2-run homer to make it 15-8.
Gearlds would retire the side in the eighth before giving way to
Ryan Sandoval for the ninth.
Foster and Garcia had three hits each for the Coyotes to lead the way. Foster scored five times and drove in two runs. Favretto was one of four Coyotes to have two hits in the game, while driving in four runs. Four others drove in two runs each.
Nathan Galusha got the win for the Coyotes allowing one hit and walking one and striking out one in an inning and a third as KWU took the lead in the top of the sixth inning.
KWU will face No. 4 seed Talladega on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. in a winner's bracket game. Talladega upset top seeded LSU-Shreveport 6-5 in 10 innings. The winner advances to Thursday's championship series.
