KWU Athletics
GREAT BEND – Kansas Wesleyan baseball held on for a 7-6 win over the Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles on Saturday at the Great Bend Sports Complex.
The victory for the Coyotes eliminated the Eagles from the postseason tournament, while the Coyotes continue on, facing McPherson on Sunday at 1 p.m. in another elimination contest.
Dustin Sipe (JR/Aztec, N.M.) drove in the first run of the game for the Coyotes with a double that plated Kevin Esquilin Cruz (JR/Trujilo Alto, Puerto Rico) who walked.
OKWU tied things up at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning before the Coyotes responded with three runs in the top of the fifth.
Yealex Lopez-Torres (JR/Arecibo, Puerto Rico) started the 2-out rally for the Coyotes with a single, followed by William Dryburgh (SR/St. Joseph, Mo.) reaching on an error. Esquilin Cruz then singled to drive in the first run of the inning. Hadyn Brown followed with a 2-run single to put the Coyotes up 4-1.
OKWU got a run back in the bottom of the inning.
The Coyotes put three more on the board in the seventh with another 2-out rally.
Dryburgh started it with a single and Esquilin Cruz reached on an error that allowed Dryburgh to score. Brown followed with a RBI single, and Sipe added a RBI double to give the Coyotes a 7-2 lead.
OKWU got two runs in the bottom of the inning and made things very interesting in the bottom of the ninth, scoring twice, but led the tying run on base as a pop out ended it.
Dryburgh and Sipe had three hits each for the Coyotes. Brown drove in three runs and SIpe drove in two.
Trent Dewyer (JR/Albuquerque, N.M.) went five innings-plus for the Coyotes to get the win, allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts. Oscar Sanchez (JR/Celina, Texas) tossed two innings and Ryan Sandoval (JR/El Paso, Texas) picked up his fourth save of the season, allowing two runs on two hits in two innings.