Coe athletics photo |
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The Coe College baseball team won its fifth American Rivers Conference postseason title in school history on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium, defeating Buena Vista 6-2. The win, which earned Coe the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, featured 10 hits to back up a strong pitching outing from four players. Coe started the action early in the game, scoring on a Jake Brosius sacrifice fly for the opening run. Buena Vista answered with runs in the second and third innings, taking a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the third. Austin Gomez tripled with one out to start the third and quickly scored on a wild pitch from BVU to tie the game at two. Coe took the lead for good in the fourth as Jack Allison delivered an RBI single to make it 3-2. Landon Moore, who earned the win on the mound, took over from Jack Walsh in the fourth and worked three scoreless frames before departing. The Kohawks got an insurance run in the fifth with another RBI knock as Mitchell Eckardt drove home Creighton Kreshel. Jordan Joselit was Coe's next man out of the pen, shutting the Beavers out in the seventh before handing the ball to Drew Osterman in the eighth. Osterman entered with a man on first and retired three straight hitters, keeping Coe's lead intact. The Kohawk bats gave Osterman two more runs in their half, getting an RBI triple from Tyce Johnson to make it 5-2. He later scored on a passed ball and extended the lead to 6-2, setting the stage for Osterman who earned his second save of the weekend with a dominant 1, 2, 3 frame.
COE 6 - BUENA VISTA 2
Jon Wille started Coe's day with one out in the first, tripling to the left-center gap for an early chance. Brosius did his job and drove home the former, delivering a sacrifice fly to left for a 1-0 lead. Buena Vista responded with runs in the next two innings, taking the lead in the third on a wild pitch. Coe erased the run in the bottom of the third as Gomez did the job, tripling to right-center before scoring on a wild pitch. The Kohawks regained the lead for good in the fourth as Johnson, Ryan Thoreson and Allison ripped off three consecutive singles as Coe's third basemen drove home the go-ahead tally. Eckardt doubled the lead in the fifth, driving home Kreshel with a single up the middle to make it 4-2. Coe's staff went into cruise control following the second and third innings, allowing just two hits in the final six innings. Osterman got some extra insurance in the eighth with Coe's third triple of the game as Johnson extended the lead to 5-2. He later scored to make it 6-2, all but locking up the win as he scampered home on a passed ball. Osterman returned for his second inning of work and ended the game in style, retiring the side in order with a pair of strikeouts and a game-ending groundout.
Up Next: Coe will learn its NCAA Regional Tournament destination on Monday, May 13 during the NCAA Selection Show live streamed on ncaa.com.