CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Coe College baseball team secured a series victory over Luther College Saturday afternoon at Bill Quinby Field, splitting a doubleheader with the Norse. Coe claimed the opening game 9-8 with its second straight walk-off and later fell 11-6 in seven innings in game two. Coe and Luther traded early runs in the opener but a four-run seventh for the hosts gave the Kohawks control in the late stage of the game. The Norse refused to quit, scoring four runs in the top of the fourth inning to force extras.
Jake Brosius came up clutch for Coe in the bottom of the tenth, blasting a game-winning solo homer to capture the series win. Luther bounced back in game two taking advantage of four Kohawk defensive miscues to take a commanding lead in the fifth. Coe fought back with a two-run blast from
Eli Elsbecker in the bottom of the sixth but the Norse closed out the final few outs to hang on.
GAME ONE
COE 9 - LUTHER 8 - 10 INNINGS
Game Facts
- Luther took the lead in the opening inning with its first homer of the game, going up 2-0 on a two-run blast to left. Coe quickly responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring a pair of runs on a one-out single from Thoreson as he drove home Eckardt and Wille. The scoring settled over the middle portion of the game with both pitchers settling in on the hill. Luther went back in front in the fifth with a leadoff bomb, taking a 3-2 lead with the solo shot. The Kohawks had another answer for the Norse in the bottom of the frame, using two hits to take their first lead. Anthony Ranallo delivered the go-ahead hit in another clutch pinch-hitting situation, driving home Ryan Thoreson and Jack Allison with a two-out single. The Kohawks extended the lead in the seventh with four runs, getting the first on a wild pitch before a two-out RBI single for Ryan Brosius. CJ Johnson made it 8-3 before the end of the frame, driving home a run with a sacrifice fly. Luther mounted a comeback in the top of the ninth, using back-to-back homers to make it an 8-7 game with no outs. The Norse tied the game down to their final out, driving home the game-tying run with two down. Luther threatened to score in the top of the 10th, loading the bases with one out but a heads up play from Tyce Johnson eliminated the chance. Jake Brosius came up huge for Coe in the bottom of the 10th, belting a towering two-out, solo homer to walk off the Norse.
GAME TWO
LUTHER 11 - COE 6
Game Facts
- Luther jumped ahead in the opening inning again in game two, scoring three times. The first run scored on Coe's first error of the game before back-to-back RBI made it 3-0. Coe pulled one run back in the bottom of the first, getting a two-out single from Allison to slice the deficit to two. Tyce Johnson tied the game an inning later with a two-run, two-out double, driving home Elsbecker and CJ Johnson to knot the contest. Luther immediately responded with two in the third, retaking a 5-3 lead with an RBI double and sacrifice fly. The Norse blew it open in the top of the fifth, getting three hits and five runs to go up 10-4. An error allowed the leadoff man to reach, starting the dismal inning for the Kohawks. Luther scored five runs during a five-hitter stretch, getting three RBI singles and a bases-loaded walk. The Norse added their final run in the sixth, scoring with a one-out single for 11-4. Elsbecker tried to start the comeback in the sixth, following CJ Johnson's leadoff single with a towering shot to left-center but Luther stranded runners on first and third to send it to the seventh. Coe put runners on the corners again in the seventh but came up empty, seeing the final two hitters retired in order as Luther salvaged the victory.
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