PELLA, Iowa — The Coe College baseball team secured a series victory to start a busy week on Monday afternoon, defeating the Central College Dutch 9-8 in the third and final game of a three-game set. The Kohawks opened the game with four runs in the first two innings, getting a run-scoring single in the first from
Louis Smelcer, a
Ryan Brosius RBI double in the second and a two-run homer from
Ryan Thoreson to cap off the early start. The Dutch responded with five unanswered runs, scoring two in the third and fourth innings before extending the lead in the fifth thanks to defensive miscue from the Kohawks. Coe finally found its offense again in the sixth with two RBI hits from
Jake Mitchell and Thoreson but again the hosts had an answer, leveling the game in the bottom of the inning with a two-out single. The Kohawks broke the deadlock in the ninth inning, creating traffic with small ball before a clutch single from
Eli Elsbecker made it 7-6. Brosius put a ball in play that gave Coe two more runs, forcing an errant throw on a potential double play that allowed two more Kohawks to score. The Dutch scored twice in the bottom of the inning and threatened for more but
Michael Matejka buckled down for a game-ending grounder to short.
COE 9 - COE 8
- Thoreson singled in the first and moved to second on a walk by Will Hosch. Smelcer opened the scoring on batter later, driving home the Kohawk backstop with a single to right. The offense piled on in the second, getting a leadoff single from Elsbecker ahead of Brosius' RBI double. Thoreson put an exclamation mark on the strong start with a two-run blast to left, to make it 4-0. Central got two runs back in the third with two swings of the bat, using a one-out single and a two-run blast to slice the deficit in half. The Dutch got another big blast in the fourth inning, leveling the game with a two-run bomb with two outs in the frame. Central took the lead thanks to defensive miscues from Coe in the fifth, getting a single that turned into the go-ahead run for the Dutch. The Kohawk offense picked up the defense in the top of the sixth as Mitchell and Thoreson went back-to-back at-bats with RBIs to make it 6-5. The seesawing action continued in the bottom of the inning as Central got a clutch two-out single for 6-6. Coe's offense struck for three in the top of the ninth, starting the party with an RBI single from Elsbecker before the defensive mistake made it 9-6. The Dutch pushed in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, getting within one run before a game-ending groundout clinched the series.
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