JOPLIN, Mo. - The Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes are the 2025 KCAC Baseball Championship Tournament Champions.
The Coyotes beat the Tabor College Bluejays 7-4 on Sunday at Joe Becker Stadium to claim the tournament title, the program's first since 2022, when the Coyotes also beat Tabor to claim the tournament title.
The victory gives the Coyotes the second automatic berth to the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round which begins on May 12 at campus sites around the country. The NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round Selection Show will be on Wednesday, May 7 at 4 p.m., to find out where the Coyotes are headed for the Opening Round.
It will be the fourth straight appearance in the Opening Round for the Coyotes, the longest streak in program history. It will be KWU's seventh appearance in the NAIA Opening Round since the format began in 2009.
The Coyotes sent Brett Maddock out for his second start of the tournament on short rest and held the Bluejays off the board until giving up a run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
It was a scoreless game until the top of the fourth inning when Fernando Ruvalcaba hit a 2-run homerun that also brought in Garrett Garfield who singled earlier in the inning.
The Coyotes held the 2-1 lead until the top of the eighth when Wesleyan put five on the board. Tyler Favretto walked to start the inning, and Garfield was hit by a pitch. After a Tabor pitching change, Ruvalcaba drove in another run with a single to left.
Carter Allen then reached on an error that kept the inning going, and pinch runner Lakin Franz scored on the play. After a couple of outs, the Coyotes kept the line moving as Coulson Riggs singled to third to drive in a run, a wild pitch yielded another, and Eric Romero doubled to bring in the fifth run of the inning.
Tabor got a run in the eighth to make it 7-2.
In the ninth, Tabor tried to rally. The Bluejays loaded the bases with nobody out before a sacrifice fly brought in a run. A fielder's choice with an error did not yield an out and loaded the bases again. Another fielder's choice brought in another run, but Hunter Blea would get the final out on a strikeout and throw down to first to end the game.
Maddock went six innings to get the win, allowing one run on four hits with three strikeouts. Ritter Steinmann went two innings plus before getting in trouble in the ninth and was responsible for all the runs in the ninth. Blea got all three outs in the ninth for the save, entering the game with the possible tying run on deck.