[Baseball] Falcons Split Doubleheader vs. Kansas Wesleyan
WICHITA, Kan. — The Friends University Falcons scored 14 runs Saturday (Mar. 19) to win the top half of a doubleheader over the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes but dropped game two 9-0 at West Side Athletic Field.
The Coyotes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first behind a two-run homer by Dustin Sipe, but an eight-run second inning broke the game wide open.
The Falcons loaded the bases thanks to Devon Lujan (FR/Olathe, Kan.) and Niquan Benjamin (FR/US Virgin Islands) getting hit by pitches, followed by a walk by Ricky Hockett (SR/Plainville, Kan. ). Another hit-by-pitch scored the Falcon's first run, then a sacrifice fly by Buster Hardman (SO/American Fork, Utah) and a base hit by Elerie Rivera (SR/Patillas, Puerto Rico) put the Falcons on top 3-2.
Back-to-back doubles by Max Coyt (SR/Hanford, Calif.) and Pablo Oden (SR/Hollywood, Fla.) pushed the lead 6-2, then Oden scored on an error by the second basemen. Pryce Anderson (JR/Coffeyville, Kan.) closed out the huge inning with a double, scoring Lujan.
The Coyotes made it an 8-3 Friends lead, but Benjamin singled to center before coming around to score on a base hit by Caleb Coats (SO/Katy, Texas).
A two-run fifth inning by the Coyote trimmed the lead to 9-5, but the Falcons responded by scoring five in the seventh to take control.
Hardman drove in a pair of runs with a triple to start the inning, then back-to-back doubles by Rivera, and Coyt brought home two more.
The Coyotes made one last push in the ninth, tallying one run, but Matt Postier (FR/Wichita, Kan.) shutdown the Kansas Wesleyan hitters.
Friends scored 14 runs on 14 hits while benefitting from a pair of errors by the Coyotes. Benjamin went 4-for-4 at the plate, while Rivera finished with three hits, and Coyt had two hits and three RBIs.
Jerson Morales (FR/Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) got the call on the mound for the Falcons in the opener and threw 5.2 innings while striking out five batters. Mattingly Milledge (SO/Goddard, Kan.) came on in relief, allowing just three hits with four strikeouts in 2.1 innings of work.
The Coyotes' offense came alive in the nightcap, scoring two runs in the second and third innings, before adding two more in the fifth and three in the seventh.
Defensively, Kansas Wesleyan held the Falcons scoreless on just four hits in game two, while striking out eight batters.
The Falcons are back in action tomorrow to wrap up the three-game set with Kansas Wesleyan, before traveling to Oklahoma Wesleyan on Tuesday (Mar. 22).