JOPLIN, Mo. - A hot start by the Kansas Wesleyan Baseball team sparked the Coyotes to a 16-6 win over the Friends Falcons on Saturday at Joe Becker Stadium in the KWU half of the bracket.
The win advances the Coyotes to the Championship Game on Sunday at 2:15 p.m. at Joe Becker Stadium. They'll face the winner between Oklahoma Wesleyan and Tabor, who will play the "if necessary" game on their side of the bracket on Sunday at 11 a.m. Tabor beat OKWU on Friday night, but OKWU came back to beat the Bluejays on Saturday evening 7-2 to force the extra game.
Jacob Williamson led off the bottom of the first hit by a pitch then Tyler Favretto followed with a single. Garrett Garfield brought in the first run with a single and Fernando Ruvalcaba drove in a run with a hit. After Carter Allen walked to load the bases, Joe Finder doubled home a pair. A Friends pitching change didn't slow KWU's momentum much as a wild pitch brought in a run and Blake Dale followed with a RBI single for the sixth run of the frame.
Friends got one back in the second, but the Coyotes added one in the bottom of the inning as Callen singled to score Ruvalcaba who had doubled earlier.
Favretto drove in a run in the bringing in Eric Romero who walked earlier in the inning.
The Falcons got two in the fourth and three more in the fifth to make it 8-6 before the Coyotes gained control in the bottom of the fifth. Coulson Riggs and Romero were both hit by pitches to start the inning, and Williamson knocked in the first run of the inning with a hit. Favretto walked and Garfield followed with a RBI single. Allen then brought in two more with a hit and Finder followed with a run scoring on a fielder's choice plus error and Dale brought in a run with a double.
Wesleyan added two more in the seventh as Favretto was hit to open the inning and then courtesy runner Alex Garcia scored on Ruvalcaba's single along with Garfield who doubled earlier in the inning.
Riley Gwin picked up the win in relief for the Coyotes, going three and a third innings, allowing just one hit with two strikeouts and only throwing 28 pitches. Starter Shaw Lee went four and two-thirds allowing six runs, five earned on nine hits. Hunter Blea pitched a perfect ninth inning.
Garfield, Ruvalcaba and Dale all had three hits for the Coyotes. Williamson, Favretto and Allen had two. Allen drove in three runs.