HILLSBORO – What started Friday had to be finished Saturday due to the hijinks of Mother Nature. Inclement weather on Friday evening forced the suspension of the first game of the series between Kansas Wesleyan and Tabor at the Bluejay Baseball Field.
The suspension would not affect either the team, as the Coyotes finished the resumption of the game on Saturday winning 16-9.
The Coyotes would finish Saturday with two more wins over the No. 22 ranked Bluejays to sweep the season series and give Wesleyan a berth in the KCAC Postsesaon Tournament in Great Bend next week.
Wesleyan was in a down-to-the-wire battle for the final playoff spot with Bethany, needing to at least match what Bethany did against Southwestern on the final weekend, or get a sweep of the Bluejays to secure the final playoff spot.
The Coyotes would sweep the originally scheduled Saturday doubleheader 15-3 and 13-11 to earn the spot as the No. 6 seed in the tournament.
The weekend series featured two of the top five homerun hitting teams in the NAIA, and the teams did not disappoint, combining for 16 round trippers in the series.
In the opener, Tabor took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a pair of 2-run homers, but the Coyotes answered back in the top of the second as Jarrett Gable (JR/Colleyville, Texas) drove in a pair of runs with a single that scored Justin Lewis (JR/Redmond, Wash.) and Dustin Sipe (JR/Aztec, N.M.).
The Bluejays added two more runs in the bottom of the inning on another homer before the Coyote offense would get untracked. KWU scored at least one run in the six innings including seven in the fourth to blow the game open on the way to the 16-9 win.
Sipe drove in a run in the third with a fielder's choice, before the Coyotes scored seven in the fourth inning. Yealex Lopez-Torres (JR/Arecibo, Puerto Rico) hit a grand slam and Sipe hit a 3-run homer in the frame for the Coyotes.
Gable homered, Kevin Esquilin Cruz (JR/Trujilo Alto, Puerto Rico) doubled in a run and then scored on a wild pitch to cap KWU's 3-run fifth inning.
The Coyotes got single tallies in the sixth (Lopez-Torres double play to score a run), seventh (Josh Sandoval (SR/Glendale, Ariz.) bases loaded walk), and eighth inning (Gable homer).
The game was suspended in the top of the eighth due to weather and resumed Saturday. Cesar Rodriguez (SO/Houston, Texas) closed it out for the Coyotes, getting the final four outs, including striking out the side in the ninth for the hold.
Gable was 4-for-5 in tin the game and drove in four. Sipe and Lopez-Torres both drove in four runs as well. William Dryburgh (SR/St. Joseph, Mo.), Sipe and Sandoval had two hits each. Branden Voytko (JR/El Paso, Texas) got the win on the hill.
The Coyotes jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second game on a 2-run homer by Josh Sandoval in the second, a Sipe RBI single in the third, and four runs in the fourth on a 2-run single by Esquilin Cruz and a 2-run double by Sipe.
Tabor got on the board in the bottom of the inning and added two more in the sixth.
The Coyotes blew the game open in the eighth with four runs, the first on a bases loaded balk, followed by Haydn Brown (SR/Gardnerville, Nev.)'s well hit 3-run homer to right. The Coyotes added four more in the ninth on a RBI double by Esquilin Cruz and a 3-run homer by Sipe.
Sipre used three hits to drive in six runs in the game. Dryburgh was 4 of 5. Esquilin Cruz and Brown each drove in three runs. Sandoval added two hits. Trent Dewyer (JR/Albuquerque, N.M.) went five innings to get the win. Spencer Foley (JR/Lancaster, Calif.) tossed the final four innings for the ultra-rare four inning save allowing one hit.
The finale was a wild one finishing in a 13-11 Coyote victory.
Sipe got the scoring started with a RBI double in the first only to see Tabor grab the lead with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning. Gable homered in the second and Esquilin Cruz had a RBI double in the second giving the lead back to the Coyotes.
Tabor tied it in the bottom of the inning with another 2-run homer.
KWU took the lead back in the fifth with two runs a Sandoval double and when Brandon Zwiener (JR/Norfolk, Neb.) reached on a 2-out error, only to see Tabor take it right back with four runs in the bottom of the inning.
The Coyotes put six on the board in the sixth inning. Brown reached on a fielder's choice that yielded a run, Sandoval walked with the bases loaded and Zwiener and Lopez-Torres had a pair of 2-run singles.
Tabor scored in the bottom of the inning, but the Coyotes got an insurance run on Brown's single in the seventh. Tabor tried for the comeback, but was just short after scoring twice in the bottom of the seventh.
KT Gearlds (JR/Ingram, Texas) got the win in relief for the Coyotes going an inning and two-thirds, allowing two unearned runs. Dryburgh, Esquilin Cruz, Brown, Sipe, Zwiener, Gable and Lopez-Torres all had multiple hits for the Coyotes.
KWU will face a familiar face in the KCAC Tournament on Wednesday. The Coyotes will face these same Tabor Bluejays at 3 p.m. at the Great Bend Sports Complex in Great Bend in the first round of the tournament.