STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The Coe College baseball team suffered a 12-8 defeat to North Central College on Friday afternoon in its NCAA Regional opener. The Kohawks stayed hot early on, grabbing four runs in the first inning to race out to the lead. The Cardinals answered with a pair in the bottom of the frame and two more in the bottom of the fourth, knotting the game at four. North Central then grabbed its first lead with a run in the fifth but Coe fought back to regain the advantage with a three-spot in the seventh. The Cardinals kept the seesawing action going in the bottom of the eighth, tying the game at seven with a two-out, two-run double. The Kohawks showed more resilience in the away half of the ninth, scoring one run on a pair of hits to regain a one-run advantage but North Central won the game with five runs in the bottom of the ninth. The loss drops Coe to 21-20 overall and North Central improves to 34-12 on the season. 
 
NORTH CENTRAL 12 - COE 8
Game Facts

• The postseason trend of early runs continued for the Kohawks in the first inning, getting four two-out tallies to jump out in front. TJ Johnson and Reid Rausch were hit by pitches in back-to-back one-out at-bats. Jacob Brosius then delivered the first two RBI of the inning two batters later, driving home both runners with a double to center. Jack Allison immediately made it 4-0 in the next plate appearance, blasting a two-run homer to left-center to plate Brosius. 
• North Central quickly responded in the bottom of the inning, getting four hits and a pair of runs to slice the lead in half. The Cardinals then tied the game in the fourth after a pair of scoreless frames. North Central used back-to-back one-out solo homers to even the contest at four and later took the lead on a sacrifice fly out in the fifth. 
• Coe retook the lead in the top of the seventh, getting three runs on three hits to grab a 7-5 lead. Tyce Johnson and James VanHooser each singled with one out, putting runners on the corners for Mitchell Eckardt. The Kohawk second basemen laid down a perfect bunt and executed the squeeze play to tie the score at five. TJ Johnson then stepped to the plate and delivered a massive, two-run jack to left-center as the 2021 all-American drove home VanHooser to give Coe a 7-5 advantage. 
• The Cardinals and Kohawks went scoreless in the bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth but the defacto hosts tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. North Central got a pair of leadoff base runners and quickly pushed both into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout, the Cardinals were left with one chance in the frame and they didn't disappoint, getting a game-tying double to left-center to make it 7-7. 
• Coe showed no quit despite its third blown lead of the contest, battling back with two hits and one run in the top of the ninth. Tyler Elliott reached safely on an error to lead off and then moved to second on a failed pick-off. Tyce Johnson then drove home Elliott with his third hit of the day, singling to right-field to make it 8-7. Coe threatened to add more insurance before the end of the inning but North Central avoided the damage with a double play and a groundout. 
• The Cardinals put together another comeback in the bottom of the ninth, using just one hit en route to the victory. Two-straight free passes put pressure on the Kohawks before a failed sacrifice got the visitors their first out. North Central then loaded the bases on its third free pass of the inning before a fielding error quickly made it 8-8. The big blast came with the bases full as the Cardinals' lone hit of the frame was a game-winning homer, giving North Central a 12-8 victory. 

 
Up next: Coe will play in an elimination game tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM against the fourth-seed Lawrence University. 
 
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