Kansas Wesleyan University

They were the Kansas Conference's regular season champions.
 
Just to prove it wasn't a fluke the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes also won the KCAC postseason tournament championship … but it certainly wasn't easy.
 
After losing to McPherson on Thursday, KWU battled back through the consolation bracket winning four games in less than 48 hours including two heart-stopping victories Saturday at Dean Evans Stadium – 15-11 over McPherson in 12 innings and 11-10 over Oklahoma Wesleyan in a frenzied championship contest.
 
Both games featured more twists and turns than an Ozark mountain road. The Coyotes prevailed thanks to their typically irrepressible hitting and the work of a pitching staff that was desperately lacking available experienced arms but got superb efforts from several seldom used youngsters.
 
"The boys showed their perseverance, resilience, whatever you want to call it," said coach Bill Neale, who notched his 400th victory at KWU with the OKWU win. "They'd punch; we'd punch back. We'd punch; they'd punch back. We just kept getting back up and kept coming and being aggressive."
 
The Coyotes scored 55 runs in their last four games and needed every one Saturday. The championship game featured seven lead changes with each team posting a five-run inning.
 
Niko Olson hit a home run leading off the bottom of the first for KWU. OKWU took a 2-1 lead before the Coyotes went back on top, 3-2 in the third. Joe Finder's infield single scored Carter Allen and Logan Arndt singled in Blake Dale.
 
The Eagles scored three in the fourth and led 5-3, but Wesleyan promptly scored five in the bottom of the fifth and led 8-5. Jackson Harriger was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded Finder scored; Olson's single scored Tyler Nordyke and Arndt; and Allen's double scored Olson and Harriger.
 
OKWU took a 10-8 lead with five runs in the top of the sixth, but the Coyotes responded with the final three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Finder singled in Chris Finocchario; Arndt's ground out scored Dale; and Tyler Nordyke singled in pinch runner Coulson Riggs.
 
Connor Rhorer (4-0), the third pitcher of the game, got the victory and Wil Yamka, the fifth KWU pitcher, the save by pitching a scoreless ninth.
 
KWU had 15 hits – Finder with three and Olson, Garfield, Finocchario, Arndt and Nordyke two apiece. Olson also drove in three.
 
Neale said he wasn't initially planning to use Yamka and Shaw Lee, both starters who pitched earlier in the week. Lee pitched a scoreless eighth inning in advance of Yamka in the ninth on Saturday.
 
"In the seventh inning coach Huff (Tyler Huffstickler) took the lineup card that had who's available and wrote Lee and Yamka on it," Neale said. "He said they've played catch, they feel good and I said, 'all right you talked me into it.'"
 
Several young pitchers saved the day – starter Lakin Franz and reliever Daniel Turnham against McPherson, and relievers Isaac Hawthrone, Tyler Wise and Rhorer against OKWU.
 
"Guys who hadn't pitched a lot for us really stepped up," Neale said.
 
Neale said he learned about the 400th victory along with everyone else when it was announced after the game.
 
"I'll be honest, I didn't know until they told me out here," he said. "K-Dub is a special place to me."
 
KWU 15, McPherson 11 (12 innings)
KWU took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Fernando Ruvalcaba's two-run homer, but McPherson scored three in the bottom of the first.
 
Trailing 6-3 going into the sixth, the Coyotes scored six runs on just two hits and aided by three walks, a hit batter and three wild pitches. Finocchario scored the first run on a wild pitch; Goldenberg then drove in Dale with a double; Finder scored when Allen drew a bases loaded walk; Garrett Garfield's single sent Allen pinch runner Hawthorne home and Allen scored on a wild pitch.
 
Nordyke's double scored pinch runner Riggs in the seventh inning and Garfield came home on a passed ball in the eighth that gave the Coyotes a 10-7 lead, but it didn't last.
 
McPherson scored one in the eighth and two in the ninth to tie at 10 and force extra innings.
 
KWU all but sealed the deal with five runs in the 12th inning. Dale scored the first run on a throwing error; Nordyke drove in pinch runner Chase Aurand; Garfield's sacrifice fly scored pinch runner Hawthorne and Arndt's double scored Olson and Nordyke making it 15-10.
 
McPherson scored one in the bottom of the 12th before Turnham (4-0), a freshman, got the final out. He allowed one run and one hit in three innings.
 
The Coyotes had 15 hits, Garfield and Dale three apiece while Olson, Goldenberg and Nordyke had two each.
 
Next up is the NAIA Opening Round on May 11-14 at Evans Stadium. The teams joining the Coyotes will be announced Wednesday.
 
"We're going to enjoy this for two or three days and take some much-needed time off," Neale said. "We've got some guys who are banged up and kind of need some maintenance and different things.
 
"But we're excited. We're going to get three or four really good teams depending on what site we are. It'll be a lot of fun and we're doing it here in Salina."