WAVERLY, Iowa – Wartburg baseball hosted Coe College in a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 23 to open American Rivers Conference play. After today's games, the Knights are now 9-5 overall and 0-2 in A-R-C play.
Due to weather the games were moved from Cedar Rapids to Waverly, so Coe remained the home team in these games.
Game Summary
- Game One
- First Inning
- After a Zach Walton single was the only offense in the top half of the first, Coe brought a run across after two hits in the bottom half
- Fourth Inning
- Walton singled again in the fourth and Carter Stubitz walked to put a runner in scoring position, but the Kohawks got out of the inning and continued to lead 1-0 through four innings
- Fifth Inning
- Wiley Sullivan, Keaton Gray and Walton all reached to load the bases, but Coe got out of the inning again to preserve its lead
- Coe's offense exploded for four hits and five runs in the fifth inning to take a 6-0 lead
- Led by three-run double with two outs
- Sixth Inning
- Aidan Brown doubled off the wall for the Knights in the sixth, but was left stranded
- Seventh Inning
- Coe added another run to stretch the lead to 7-0
- Ninth Inning
- Coe closed the game going three up three down to clinch a 7-0 win in game one
- Game Two
- First Inning
- The Knights jumped on Coe early in game two after Gray singled and then stole second before being scored by Walton to make it 1-0
- Second Inning
- Brown led off the inning getting hit by a pitch and then Caleb Andrews singled to put two runners on
- Cole Wessling doubled to the gap between center and right field to score both runners and put the Knights ahead 3-0
- Wessling was brought home by a Gray infield hit that pushed the lead to 4-0 after the second
- Fourth Inning
- Coe was able to cut the lead down to one after scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning
- Fifth Inning
- Gray singled to begin the inning and then was scored after Eliot Jurgensen tripled to the right field corner
- Walton smashed a ball past third base to score Jurgensen and put the Knights ahead 6-3
- Coe answered in the bottom half with two runs of its own to make the score 6-5
- Sixth Inning
- The Kohawks put up five runs in the inning to score for a third-straight inning that led to a 10-6 lead
- Seventh Inning
- Coe added another run in the seventh to take an 11-6 lead after seven innings
- Eighth Inning
- Sam Nicolino hit a bomb to left field to cut the Coe lead to 11-7
- Ninth Inning
- Down to the final two outs, Gray blasted another home run to left field to make the score 11-8
- Coe closed it out on the mound to win 11-8
Top Performers
Coaches Comments
"Give Coe credit, they were really able to hit with runners in scoring position today" said Head Coach
Casey Klunder following today's games. "Our pitching staff did a nice job in game one, we just have to be much better offensively if we are going to win game ones against number one pitchers in these conference series"
Klunder spoke about a couple of player's performances today: "
Aidan Brown gave us some good swings in the lineup today after battling some injuries. I thought he did a good job of taking advantage of his opportunities" "Keaton swung the bat realty well today" "He's improved as a leader and its nice to see him rewarded for all his hard work."
"We're going to have to swing the bat better with runners in scoring position moving forward" said Klunder about what he hopes to see improve moving forward.
Notes/Streaks
- Fourth triple of the season for Jurgensen
- Ninth in his career (Tied for eighth all-time at Wartburg)
- Third HR for Nicolino this season and first for Gray
- Fourth career HR for Nicolino and third for Gray
- Gray extends his hitting streak to 12 games and on-base streak to 14 games
- Walton also has an on-base streak of 14 games
- First collegiate start for Cole Grider in game two
Next Time Out
The Knights will close the series with Coe on Monday, Mar. 25 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 3 p.m.
