KWU Athletics
WICHITA – After dropping the first game of Saturday's doubleheader with the Friends Falcons 14-6, the Coyotes rallied for a 9-0 win in the second game to salvage a split at West Side Athletic Field.
Branden Voytko (JR/El Paso, Texas) and KT Gearlds (JR/Ingram, Texas) combined for the 4-hit shutout in the second game, while the Coyote bats came alive.
Jarrett Gable (JR/Colleyville, Texas) hit a 2-run homer in the second inning to put the Coyotes on the board, and Haydn Brown (SR/Gardnerville, Nev.) followed with a 2-run shot in the third to make it 4-0.
Wesleyan got two more in the fifth. After Brown led off with a walk, Kevin Esquilin Cruz (JR/Trujilo Alto, Puerto Rico) tripled, then Robbie Keener (FR/Abilene, Kan.) singled home Equilin Cruz.
The Coyotes added three more in the seventh. Dustin Sipe (JR/Aztec, N.M.) was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then scored on Keener's ground out. Gable then hit his second 2-run homer of the game to put the Coyotes up 9-0.
Gable had three of KWU's 10 hits in the game and drove in four. Diego Fisher (JR/Hollister, Calif.) and Esquilin Cruz had two hits each. Keener and Brown drove in two each.
Voytko struck out seven in five and a third innings, allowing three hits. Gearlds closed it out pitching an inning and two-thirds, allowing a hit with a strikeout.
Things didn't go KWU's way in the opener.
Sipe gave Wesleyan a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with a 2-run homer, but Friends scored eight in the bottom of the second inning to take control.
Both teams added a run in the fourth inning as Keener singled home Sipe who led off the frame with a double and the Coyotes added two more in the fifth as Brown had a RBI double to score William Dryburgh (SR/St. Joseph, Mo.) and then scored on a wild pitch.
Friends scored five in the bottom of the seventh and the Coyotes couldn't rally.
Fisher had a RBI single in the top of the ninth to score Brown, who singled to lead off the inning.
Brown had three hits for the Coyotes, while Dryburgh, Sipe and Fisher had two each as the first four in the lineup had nine of KWU's 11 hits. Trent Dewyer (JR/Albuquerque, N.M.) suffered the loss on the hill.
The deciding third game of the series is Sunday at Noon in Wichita.