Finally the Kansas Wesleyan Baseball team got to play a game.
After losing the first games of the season due to weather, the Coyotes opened the season on Tuesday with a 9-4 win over Central Christian College at Dean Evans Stadium.
The pitching staff for the Coyotes got plenty of opportunities as the Coyotes sent eight different pitchers to the mound. The lone hurler with more than one inning of work was veteran Riley Gwin who went two innings, recording four strikeouts and allowing one hit.
Central Christian took the lead in the top of the second inning as a pair of walks to start the inning and a wild pitch generated the first run for the Tigers.
Central's lead was short-lived.
Joe Finder led off the bottom of the frame with a towering homer to right center field to tie the game 1-1.
The Coyotes broke it open in the bottom of the third. Carter Allen singled with one out in the frame then stole second. Garrett Garfield then walked, and Fernando Ruvalcaba emptied the bases with a 3-run shot. Wesleyan loaded the bases in the inning on three walks, but could not push another run across.
Logan Baptista's RBI single in the fourth added another run for the Coyotes to make it 5-1.
Central got a run in the fifth to make it 5-2, but the Coyotes added more in the bottom of the sixth.
Ruvalcaba walked, Finder singled and Baptista walked to load the bases and Dale would single home two runs to make it 7-2. Isaac Hawthrone brought in a run on a ground out, and Dale scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-2 Coyotes.
Central Christian got two runs back in the eighth, but could not bring anything else in.
Finder had three hits to pace the Coyotes while Dale added two. Ruvalcaba drove in three runs. Ruvalcaba and Baptista each walked three times.
Shaw Lee (1-0) got the win, as the pitcher of record when the Coyotes took the lead.
KWU plays again this weekend, hosting Saint Ambrose in four games, two each on Friday and Saturday at the Dean. The weekend was originally scheduled to be a multi-team classic event, but other teams dropped out of the event.