[Baseball] Baseball drops opener to Swedes, Game 2 suspended after 11 innings due to darkness
LINDSBORG – Kansas Wesleyan's hopes of gaining a split of a baseball doubleheader with rival Bethany will have to wait until Sunday.
Tied 8-8 after 11 innings, the second game of their Kansas Conference doubleheader was suspended because of darkness Saturday night.
The contest, which is part of the First Bank Kansas Smoky Hill Showdown, will resume at 1 p.m. Sunday and will be followed the regularly scheduled third game of the series.
Bethany won Saturday's first game 7-0.
The Swedes took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning against KWU starter Jake Olofson (JR/Livermore, Calif.) in the second game, but the Coyotes tied it in the top of the second on Zach Farmer (FR/Salina, Kan.)'s two-out, two-run single that scored Craig Bettis (SR/Merced, Calif.) and Jeffrey Cochran (JR/Federal Way, Wash.).
Bethany went back on top 3-2 in the bottom of the second, but KWU tied it again in the top of the third on Yodai Nakamura (SR/Las Vegas, Nev.)'s RBI ground out that scored Austin Cross (SO/Montgomery, Texas).
After the Swedes made it 5-3 with two runs in the fifth, Wesleyan answered with four runs in the top of the seventh for a 7-5 lead. Farmer, Cross and Bailey Watros (SR/Sandwich, Ill.) singled, Watros reaching on a bunt. Farmer and Cross scored on Nakamura's double, and Watros and Nakamura came in on Josh Grubaugh (SR/Owasso, Okla.)'s single.
The lead was short-lived, though, as Bethany tied at 7 with two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
The Coyotes took an 8-7 lead with a run in the top of the 10th when Cross single drove in pinch-runner Alex Sarmienta (JR/Corcoran, Calif.). KWU loaded the bases with two outs, but couldn't do any further damage.
Bethany stayed alive, scoring the tying run on a double play ground ball in the bottom half of the inning.
KWU loaded the bases with two outs again in the top of the 11th, but couldn't score. Bethany put runners and first and second with two outs in the bottom of the 11th, but the Coyotes escaped as Craig Bettis got an inning-ending ground out.
Bond pitched two innings and allowed two runs on three hits. Bettis worked 4.1 innings, giving up one run on two hits, and Olofson threw 4.2 innings and surrendered three runs on eight hits.
KWU has 16 hits in the game, three by Watros while Cross, Whitaker, Cochran and Bettis have two apiece. The Swedes have 13 hits.
Bethany's Edwar Melendez blanked the Coyotes on four hits in the first game. He struck out 10 and didn't allow a walk while pitching a complete game.
Grubaugh had two hits and Russ McClung and Farmer one each to account for the Coyotes' four safeties.
Jakob Sandoval (SR/El Paso, Texas) took the loss, pitching 7.1 innings and allowing six runs on 14 hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Ethan Kickhaefer (FR/Salina, Kan.) pitched the final two-thirds of an inning and didn't allow a hit.
Leadoff hitter Mike Lowery had three hits and drove in three runs for the Swedes.