Kansas Wesleyan Baseball opened KCAC play on Friday sweeping a doubleheader from the Evangel University Valor 7-2 and 3-1 at Dean Evans Stadium.
The wins push KWU's record to 8-1 overall and 2-0 in the KCAC.
Friday's match-up between the teams was originally scheduled to be a single game, but forecast inclement weather caused a change to a Friday doubleheader and a single game Saturday.
In the opener, the Coyotes got on the board first in the second inning as
Blake Dale doubled and then scored on
Logan Arndt's single.
KWU added four more in the third.
Garrett Garfield drove in the first run of the inning on a sacrifice fly as
Isaac Hawthrone scored as a courtesy runner for catcher
Jackson Harriger who singled to start the inning.
Fernando Ruvalcaba walked to load the bases and
Chris Finocchario emptied them with a 3-run double.
Evangel got one run in the fourth.
KWU tacked on a run in the sixth as Finocchario walked and later scored on Arndt's single. The Coyotes added one more in the eight as Finocchario singled and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-2.
Carter Allen, Finocchario and Arndt had two hits each for the Coyotes.
Wesleyan's pitching was outstanding in the game.
Shaw Lee went six innings for the win to improve to 3-0, allowing one run on six hits while striking out eight.
Riley Gwin pitched two innings and
Kayden Shivers closed out the ninth.
In the second game, Evangel took advantage of a KWU error in the first to score a run and take a 1-0 lead.
The score remained the same until the third when the Coyotes used an Evangel error to put Niko Olsen on board. Allen and Garfield singled to load the bases and Ruvalcaba drew a walk to force in the game-tying run. Finocchario then put the Coyotes up 2-1 on a sacrifice fly.
Wesleyan added a big insurance run in the sixth. Finocchario doubled and then scored on Arndt's single to make it 3-1 Coyotes heading to the seventh.
Daniel Turnham came in to pitch and closed the door with two ground outs and a strikeout for the save.
Arndt and Allen had two hits each for the Coyotes in the game.
Logan Baptista went six innings, allowing an unearned run on eight hits while striking out six for the win. Turnham's quick seventh earned him his first save of the season.
The teams will conclude the series on Saturday. The teams are hopeful to start at 2 p.m. at Dean Evans Stadium, but weather may push back the start later. Stay tuned to KWU social media outlets for the latest updates.
