CHICKASHA, Okla. – Kansas Wesleyan Baseball put together a late inning rally but came up just short as the Coyotes fell to the USAO Drovers 12-11 on Tuesday at Bill Smith Ballpark.
 
The Coyotes took an early lead as Fernando Ruvalcaba singled to score Niko Olson who led off the game with a walk in the top of the first.
 
 The Coyotes added three more in the second as NAIA National Player of the Week Logan Arndt started off the inning with a single. The Coyotes loaded the bases and Carter Allen drove in two runs with single. Garrett Garfield drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 Coyotes.
 
USAO got three runs back in the bottom of the inning, then put three more on the board in the third to take the lead 6-4. The Drovers added another in the fourth, and three more in the fifth to take a 10-4 lead. Two more on the board in the sixth gave USAO a 12-4 lead.
 
Back came the Coyotes with a big seventh inning. Zac Goldenberg walked, Olson was hit, Allen moved the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Garfield knocked in the first run of the frame with a hit. Ruvalcaba was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Chris Finocchario brought in a run with a sacrifice fly. Blake Dale followed with a RBI double, and then Arndt stepped to the plate again. He crushed a three-run homer out to left to make it 12-10 USAO.
 
The Coyotes got one more in the eighth when Ruvalcaba singled to score Garfield who doubled earlier in the inning.
 
Arndt led off the ninth with a double but would get stuck there as the Coyotes could not push the game-tying run across.
 
Arndt had three of KWU's 11 hits, while Garfield and Ruvalcaba had two each. Arndt was just a triple short of the cycle. Aidan Henderson took the loss on the hill as the Coyotes used eight different pitchers in the game.
 
The Coyotes return to KCAC action on Thursday and Friday at Avila in Kansas City. The series was originally scheduled to go Friday and Saturday, but forecast inclement weather facilitated a schedule change.