WAVERLY, Iowa – Baseball opened up its three-game American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) series against Coe College with a close 4-2 loss at home on Friday, Apr. 18. Wartburg is now 15-13 overall and 9-8 in A-R-C play, while Coe moves to 24-6 overall and 14-2 in A-R-C play..
Game Summary
- Second Inning
- Coe was the first team on the scoreboard after a two-out triple scored a Kohawk from first base to give Coe a 1-0 lead
- Fourth Inning
- In the bottom of the fourth both Zach Walton and Carter Stubitz had long flyouts to the warning track, but the score remained 1-0 Coe headed to the fifth inning
- Fifth Inning
- Following one allowed run in the second inning, Joey Ciero pitched three scoreless innings on the mound and allowed just one hit to keep the score 1-0 headed to the bottom half of the fifth
- Griffin Troha and Charlie Krueger both singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Jayden Scott placed a beautiful sacrifice bunt down the first base line to bring home Troha and tie the game 1-1 after five innings
- Seventh Inning
- Coe was able to break the tie in the top of the seventh after a single with two runners in scoring position brought one run across, but the other run was thrown at the plate with a throw from Andrew Robinson
- Eighth Inning
- The Kohawks added another two runs in the eighth inning following a solo shot home run and an RBI single that pushed the Coe lead to 4-1
- Wartburg got one run back in the bottom frame when Eliot Jurgensen scored after a single from Walton and an RBI single from Stubitz
- Ninth Inning
- Logan Wagemester and Hunter Sehr combined for three outs on the mound in the top of the ninth to keep the score at 4-2 headed to the final half inning
- Coe closed out a 4-2 win over the Knights with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth
Top Performers
Coach's Comments
"We showed a lot of fight tonight tying the game up in the fifth inning and then stringing some hits together in the seventh and eighth innings, but it just wasn't enough tonight," said head coach
Casey Klunder. "Credit to Coe, they have one of the best pitching staffs in all of Division III and Jack Walsh led them today"
"I thought Joey was great today," said Klunder about his starting putcher. "Even when he gave up leadoff hits he was able to stay in control and work himself out of jams. I think a huge part of the pitching success we saw tonight was due to the lack of walking batters from both sides."
"We were right there with them," said Klunder when asked about what he takes away from tonight's contest. "A couple plays go differently and we feel like we were in a really good spot to win that game, but these are two really good teams and we were on the short end of things tonight."
Notes/Streaks
- Sixth-straight loss to Coe for the Knights
- Each of the last three matchups have been decided by three runs or less
- 10th multi-hit game of the season for Walton
- Second career RBI for Scott
- Second multi-hit game of Krueger's career
- Third time this season Ciero has pitched seven or more innings in a start
Next Time Out
The Knights will close the series against the Kohawks Saturday, Apr. 19 with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. in Waverly.
