KWU Sports Information
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Kansas Wesleyan baseball opened its pivotal Kansas Conference series with No. 23 ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan on Friday with an 8-3 win over the Eagles.
The victory improves the Coyotes' record to 28-9 overall and 16-4 in the KCAC and is the ninth straight win for the Coyotes. Oklahoma Wesleyan fell to 29-8 overall and 15-5 in the KCAC.
It took until the third inning for either team to notch a mark on the scoreboard. The Coyotes got on the board first in the frame as William Dryburgh (SR/St. Joseph, Mo.) was hit by a pitch and then scored on Kendall Foster (SR/Prosper, Texs)'s 2-run homer.
Dryburgh led off the Coyote half of the fifth with a single and then two batters later Dustin Sipe (SR/Aztec, N.M.) hit a 2-run homer to double KWU's lead. Zack Beatty (JR/Maple Park, Ill.) stepped to the plate two batters after Sipe and hit a homerun to push the lead to 5-0.
Oklahoma Wesleyan got two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it 5-2.
The Coyotes struck again in the seventh on Beatty's solo homer making it 6-2. The Eagles got a run in the bottom of the frame to make it 6-3.
In the ninth, the Coyotes added two big insurance runs to take an 8-3 lead. Haydn Brown (SR/Gardnerville, Nev.) walked in the inning and Jarrett Gable (SR/Colleyville, Texas) was intentionally walked to put two runners on with two outs. Cruz Oxford (FR/Peoria, Ariz.) stepped up and hit a ball to the right side that OKWU's fielders lost in the sun that dropped for a single, with two runs scoring on the play.
OKWU threatened in the bottom of the ninth, getting a runner on second, but the game would end when Davis flew out and the Coyotes appealed to second base and the runner was called out for leaving early before the catch was made for a double play to end it.
Beatty had three of KWU's 11 hits in the game, while Gable had two. Foster, Sipe, Beatty and Oxford all drove in two runs each.
Nathan Righi (JR/Pekin, Ill.) went four and a third innings, allowing two runs on four hits with five strikeouts, but left in the fifth with an injury. Ritter Steinmann (SO/Oroville, Calif.) would get the win in relief, allowing an unearned run on a hit with three strikeouts. KT Gearlds (SR/Ingram, Texas) pitched an inning and a third, and Ryan Sandoval (SR/El Paso, Texas) pitched the ninth for the Coyotes.
The teams will meet again on Saturday for a doubleheader starting at noon.