McMINNVILLE, Ore. - The Coe College baseball team scored seven unanswered runs on Thursday, as they beat sixth-seeded St. John's 7-2 in an elimination game in the NCAA Regional Championships. Coe advances to the Friday's 5:30 p.m. central game with the win.
St. John's got on the scoreboard first, as A. Pfaff doubled to left center to start the game. With one out, M. Forster hit his fifth home run of the season to left field, giving the Johnnies a 2-0 lead.
Coe cut into the lead in the bottom half of the inning, as senior Scott DeAngelis (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) singled up the middle to start the inning. A sacrifice bunt from seniorTyler Leadley (Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge) moved DeAngelis to second. With two outs, DeAngelis moved to third on a wild pitch. Senior Adam Nisenson (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central) walked before senior Sean Raisch (Urbandale, Iowa/Urbandale) singled to left field, driving in DeAngelis for Coe's first run.
With one out in the second inning, senior John Delaplane (Downers Grove, Ill./North) walked. A muffed throw by the first baseman allowed Delaplane to advance to second. With two outs, junior JD Hunter (Iowa City, Iowa/Regina) singled to right center, plating Delaplane for the tying run.
The Kohawks took the lead for good in the fifth inning. Senior Brennan Melloy(Bernard, Iowa/Cascade) singled through the left side to start the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Hunter moved Melloy to second. A single to left field by DeAngelis advanced Melloy to third. Leadley then hit a ball to shortstop, but an error by the shortstop fielding the ball allowed Melloy to score from third.
After the first inning, the Johnnies had just one hit until the sixth inning. In the sixth, St. John's used a two-out single and double to put runners in scoring position, but they weren't able to score.
Hunter opened the seventh inning by reaching on a fielding error by the second baseman. A bunt single by DeAngelis moved Hunter to second before Leadley advanced both runners on a sacrifice bunt. Junior Nick Stein (Scottsdale, Ariz./Horizon) then tripled to right field, driving in DeAngelis and Hunter. The triple was the 10th of Stein's career, tying Ryan Velvick for the most in school history. A single through the left side by Nisenson brought in Stein for the third run of the inning.
Coe added one more run in the eighth inning. Delaplane walked to lead-off the inning before stealing second. Melloy walked before Hunter hit into a double-play, advancing Delaplane to third. A fielding error by the left fielder allowed Delaplane to score the final run of the game.
DeAngelis led the Kohawks with three hits and two runs scored. Delaplane also scored twice, while Stein brought in two runs. With three at-bats in the game, Nisenson moved into a tie for second with Velvick for the most at-bats in school history at 575.
Freshman Connor Alberhasky (Iowa City, Iowa/City) earned the win, improving to 4-2 on the year. He struck out three while giving up two earned runs on five hits. It was his 17th appearance of the year, moving into a tie for third in the single-season list. Freshman AJ Reuter (Monticello, Iowa/Monticello) faced the final nine batters, sitting them down in order to earn his third save of the year. He struck out three batters as he moved into a tie for fifth on Coe's single-season saves list.
The Kohawks improved to 28-16 on the year, the second most wins in school history behind last season's 32. Coe will face La Verne on Friday in a 5:30 p.m. central time elimination game. A link for live stats can be found on the front page of CoeAthletics.com