Yogi Berra was right: "It ain't over till it's over."
Trailing 9-4 in the fourth inning Kansas Wesleyan rallied for a harrowing 10-9 Kansas Conference victory over York on Friday afternoon at Dean Evans Stadium.
Riley Gwin pitched five scoreless innings out of the bullpen and Fernando Ruvalcaba drove in four of his six runs on the day as the Coyotes rose from the abyss.
KWU improved to 18-9 overall and 13-3 in the KCAC while York fell to 10-13 and 7-8.
"I felt like we were off from the start, BP (batting practice) and everything," coach Bill Neale said. "We talked to the team mid-game and got the energy up and obviously Riley coming in gave us a spark on the mound and gave us a chance to chip away at that lead."
Tied 4-4 after three innings York scored five runs in the top of the fourth against KWU starter Brett Maddock. Ruvalcaba's double drove in Alex Garcia to make it 9-5 in the bottom of the fourth and Neale sent Gwin, a senior lefthanded, out for the fifth inning.
Gwin (1-0) finished the game allowing four hits with four walks, four strikeouts and a hit batter while throwing 82 pitches.
"He's a four-year guy, he's been here, and he's been through it," Neale said of Gwin. "Probably hasn't pitched as much as he wanted to throughout the years. He's been doing it all year; he's been one of our top bullpen arms and he showed it again today."
Neale said Gwin thrived primarily because of one pitch.
"They just weren't seeing his changeup," he said. "That's the way it's been all year especially righthanded hitters ... and we just left him out there."
KWU got within striking distance in the sixth inning. Tyler Favretto led off with a double, Garrett Garfield singled and Ruvalcaba made it 9-8 with a three-run homer.
The Coyotes surged in front with two runs in the seventh. Coulson Riggs was hit by a pitch leading off and went to second on a wild pitch. Favretto walked and Garfield's single sent Riggs home with the tying run. Ruvalcaba reached on an error, courtesy runner Alex Garcia racing home with the lead run on the play.
After striking out the first batter in the top of ninth inning Gwin surrendered a single and walk but ended the threat and the game with a double play.
Ruvalcaba singled in Garfield and Carter Allen singled in Garfield in the first inning as KWU took a 2-0 lead. Blake Dale belted a two-run homer that scored Allen and tied the game 4-4 in the bottom of the second.
"We got some timely home runs and timely hits," Neale said. "The guys did a good job grinding out at-bats and obviously (Ruvalcaba) and Dale with some pop there to deliver some runs."
Ruvalcaba and Garfield had three hits apiece and Favretto two as KWU total 12 for the game.