WAVERLY, Iowa - The Coe College baseball team split a doubleheader with Wartburg College on Sunday afternoon in its opening A-R-C series, falling 1-0 in the opener before grabbing a 9-0 victory in game two. The Kohawks got a pitching gem from
TJ Deardorff in the opener but a two-out double in the eighth inning gave the Knights the lone run of the game for the victory. Coe's bats woke up in the second game, registering 10 hits and nine runs while sophomore pitcher
Tyce Johnson tossed eight scoreless innings of four-hit baseball. The split moves Coe to 6-7 on the season and 1-1 in the A-R-C while Wartburg moves to 11-8 and 1-1 in the league.
GAME ONE
WARTBURG 1 - COE 0
Game Facts
- Coe threatened first in the initial game of the doubleheader, getting a pair of leadoff base runners in the second inning as Reid Rausch and Creighton Kreshel recorded back-to-back singles. Wartburg avoided the early damage and kept the game scoreless in the next two batters, getting a double play and a strikeout to hold Coe.
- The Knights had a scoring chance in the bottom of the third inning, loading the bases with two outs but Deardorff ended the threat with a groundout. Both teams put runners on in their halves of the fifth inning but neither pushed the runners into scoring position as the pitchers continued to dominate.
- Both teams went quiet until the eighth inning when Coe got a one-out single from James VanHooser but another double play sent the game into the bottom of the frame tied at zero. The Knights got a double to left-center with one out before a line out gave Coe a chance to get out unscathed. Wartburg scored the lone run of the game in the next at-bat, getting another double as Keaton Gray drove home the winning run. The Kohawks put a runner on second with one out in the top of the ninth inning, but the Knights closer shut the door with a groundout to end the game.
GAME TWO
COE 9 - WARTBURG 0
Game Facts
- The Kohawks answered immediately in the top of the first inning, getting two hits and three runs in the opening frame to jump ahead. Mitchell Eckardt led the game off with a double and quickly scored on an RBI-single from Jacob Brosius. Brosius, who stole second, then scored as TJ Johnson reached on a two-base error by the Wartburg first baseman, making it 2-0. The final run of the inning came two batters later as Deardorff drove home TJ Johnson with a sacrifice fly to right field.
- Coe added to its lead in the top of the third inning, scoring one run in the inning on two hits. Back-to-back one-out singles from Brosius and TJ Johnson put pressure on the Knight pitcher as Johnson moved to second on a steal. A wild pitch during Rausch's at-bat allowed the pair of Kohawks to move up 90 feet with Brosius scoring Coe's fourth of the game.
- The game went quiet for nearly the remainder of the game as Coe's starter Tyce Johnson allowed just three hits from the fourth-eighth inning. The Kohawks added more insurance in the top of the ninth, getting five runs on three hits to put the game on ice. Tyler Elliott, Daniel Hawes and Eckardt all reached safely to begin the inning but a fielder's choice allowed Wartburg to get the first out of the inning at home plate. TJ Johnson blew the game open in the next at-bat for Coe, hitting a two-RBI single to score Hawes and Eckardt and push the advantage to 6-0.
- The Kohawks scored again following a pitching change for Wartburg, with Brosius scoring on a passed ball to make it 7-0. The opportunistic base running continued for Coe, getting another on a first-and-third steal play as TJ Johnson claimed home on a bad throw from the catcher. The Kohawks final run of the victory came from Deardorff who doubled to left field, scoring Rausch from second to give Coe a 9-0 advantage.
Up next: Coe will wrap up its opening A-R-C series tomorrow afternoon with a single game at 3 PM in Waverly.
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