KWU Athletics
Kansas Wesleyan entered the bottom of the fourth inning of its first game of two against McPherson on Saturday at Dean Evans Stadium trailing 6-3.
The Coyotes would score seven runs in the inning, but McPherson would score 18 of the next 19 runs over the next four innings as KWU dropped the opener 24-11 to the Bulldogs. McPherson also captured the second game of the doubleheader 11-6 to take the series.
It was three home runs in the bottom of the fourth that put the Coyotes on top. Jarrett Gable (JR/Colleyville, Texas) connected on a 3-run blast, and Dustin Sipe (JR/Aztec, N.M.) and Reece Bishop (SO/Colorado Springs, Colo.) hit 2-run shots each giving Wesleyan a 10-6 lead after four innings.
After scoring two in the fifth, McPherson blew the game open with nine runs in the sixth inning. The Bulldogs added seven more in the eighth.
Both teams had to deal with a strong wind blowing out to left center for about half of the game, until a cold front came barreling through the area, turning the wind out of the north and dropping the temperature from nearly 75 at game time to 45 by the time the first game ended, three hours and 45 minutes later.
Sipe was stellar for the Coyotes in the first game, going 4 for 4 with three RBI, while Bishop also drove in three and Gable drove in four.
McPherson took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first of the second game, but the Coyotes responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Kevin Esquilin Cruz (JR/Trujilo Alto, Puerto Rico) led off with a single and later in the inning Robbie Keener (FR/Abilene, Kan.) drive in two runs with a single putting the Coyotes up.
The Bulldogs tied it in the top of the second, and the Coyotes quickly untied it in the bottom of the frame on Haydn Brown (SR/Gardnerville, Nev.)'s single to left that scored Yealex Lopez-Torres (JR/Arecibo, Puerto Rico).
McPherson tied it again in the top of the third with a homer, and blew the game open in the fourth with six runs.
The Coyotes got two runs back in the bottom of the inning on a 2-run homer by Jalen Jones (SO/Katy, Texas), but McPherson got two back in the fifth.
Wesleyan got one more on the board in the sixth whtn Brown walked and later scored on a balk.
Keener had two of KWU's six hits, while he and Jones drove in two each.
Walks plagued the Coyote pitching staff in the second as KWU issued nine free passes and hit two batters.
KWU concludes its 22-game home stand which spanned the entire month of February on Tuesday when the Coyotes host York at Noon at Dean Evans. The game was originally scheduled to be played in York, Neb., but an issue with York's field caused the teams to exchange sites for the game.