UPLAND, Ind. – Garrett Garfield's grand slam in the fifth inning propelled the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes to a 7-5 win over top seeded and No. 9 ranked Taylor on Wednesday in the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round at Winterholter Field.
The game was the resumption of Tuesday's game that was suspended in the bottom of the first inning due to rain and inclement weather.
It was scoreless until the fourth inning, despite Taylor putting runners on base in each of the first three innings against Nathan Righi who started Tuesday and finished his outing on Wednesday for the Coyotes.
The Trojans took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a homer, but in the bottom half of the inning it was Wesleyan's turn.
Tyler Favretto led off the inning with a single, courtesy runner Alex Garcia stole second and two batters later Fernando Ruvalcaba crushed a ball out to left field to put the Coyotes up 2-1.
The Coyotes broke it open in the fifth with a two-out rally. Eric Romero started the charge with a single and went to second on a wild pitch. Jacob Williamson and Favretto walked to load the bases and after a second pitching change in the inning for Taylor, Garfield unloaded the bases with a grand slam to left making it 6-1.
Taylor got a run back in the sixth with a homer, and the score stayed the same until the seventh when the Coyotes added a tally.
Coulson Riggs reached on an error to start the inning and after a single by Williamson, Favretto brought home a run with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-2.
Taylor took advantage of a KWU error in the eighth to extend the inning and added three runs on a 3-run homer to make it 7-5.
Taylor put two runners on in the top of the ninth, with the go-ahead run at the plate, but Coyote closer Ritter Steinmann got a strikeout to end the game and send the Coyotes on.
The Coyotes only needed six hits to score seven runs, two hits by Garfield who drove in four runs on the grand slam. Ruvalcaba drove in two runs.
Righi went six innings allowing two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts, picking up his 10th win of the season. Steinmann got his 10th save of the year going three innings, allowing three unearned runs on five hits.