Tabor baseball squad salvages split against KWU
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
After dropping seven games this season by a single run, Bluejay coach John Sparks and his team have had their share of hard luck.
The Bluejays found only fool's gold in California over spring break, dropping all five games against ranked Point Loma and Concordia.
Tuesday night's game with the struggling visiting Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes seemed like a golden opportunity to get a much-needed win.
But the floor fell through on the Bluejays in the opener's fourth inning and Tabor never could recover, falling 10-7.
Tabor's chances at a win again looked dismal after the wheels came off in the finale's sixth inning after falling behind 11-3.
Down to their final four outs, the Bluejays rallied furiously with Tim Hein capping off the eight-run explosion with a game-tying double.
In what started out looking like another miserable loss for the Bluejays, Chance Miles saved the day, scoring the winning run off a shallow-outfield single on a dropped ball.
Going three for four in the nightcap, Miles drove in a game-high four RBIs to thwart a Coyote sweep, 12-11.
The win hoists Tabor's record to 2-6 in the KCAC and 8-20 on the year.
"It's a really big win for us," Sparks said. "We've been so close all year.
"We've lost seven games by one run, and to be able to come back and still have fight in us after being down 11-3 shows we've got some character left."
Much like they were a year ago, missed opportunities have been a knock against the Bluejays all season.
On Tuesday they nearly ended up costing the Bluejays against a vulnerable team.
Going four for six on the day, Tyler Marsh's leadoff home run in the opener's first inning cut the Coyotes' lead in half, 2-1, after Nathan Fish gave up a pair of run scoring singles to start the game.
The Bluejays were left trying to run down KW the rest of the game.
"They're the kind of team that if you make mistakes, they take advantage of them," Sparks said of the Coyotes. "They did that the first game."
How true it was with the Coyotes taking advantage of a pair of Tabor throwing errors to take a 4-1 lead, closing out the top half of the second.
Grant Brubacher chopped the lead in two, 4-2, with an RBI double in the bottom of the third.
The Coyotes roughed Fish up for three innings before Gerald Goodale came on to start the fourth.
KWU rocked Goodale too, pushing its lead to 6-2 on a run-scoring single and double before Grant Huck took over.
Huck loaded the bases twice, each time allowing the Coyotes to push their lead to 8-2 by the fifth.
Tabor was down 9-2 by the time Brubacher's RBI single sparked a four-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth.
Of the seven hits the Bluejays mustered in the early game, five of them came from the duo of Brubacher and Marsh, who also combined for four RBIs.
Brubacher supplied the Bluejays' only hit in the fifth with the Coyotes spotting Tabor its fifth and sixth run on a wild throw to third.
Marsh got the Bluejays as close as they were since the first inning, 9-7, scoring an RBI on another fielding error.
The dam burst on starter Zavien Rivers in the nightcap right away as he gave up the first of three home runs, a two-out two-run shot to centerfield.
Rivers' outing worsened in the second inning, surrendering a walk, single and sacrifice fly to increase the Bluejay deficit to 5-0.
Then it was more squandered chances for the Bluejays.
They had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the second, only to end up leaving them loaded with Bluejays.
An error at home plate finally broke up the shutout for Tabor as they cut the lead to 6-1 with no outs and the bases loaded.
The Coyotes again dashed the Bluejays chances at scoring runs, turning a rare triple play.
Rivers gave up one more home run in the fourth before Layne Frick escaped without any further punishment being inflicted.
Tabor got back in the game the bottom of the fifth, 7-3, with Miles blasting a two-run single.
The Coyotes continued battering the Bluejays' rotation, knocking Frick out after a solo home run.
Fireman Tim Bevan fared no better, giving up a three-run shot to left to the first batter he faced.
That appeared to break the game wide open for the Coyotes.
But Mike Fouquet had something to say about that.
Finishing just one for three, Fouquet's sole hit sparked the Bluejays' sixth inning rally, leading off with a two-run single.
Brubacher's sacrifice fly kept the wheels turning before Marsh and Miles decked back-to-back run-scoring doubles.
Caleb Mason drove in a run on an error and Fish singled to right-center field to trim the lead to 11-10.
With the chances looking slim early, Hein gave the Bluejays a chance with the game-tying double.
Sparks called on charged up ace Sean Bechtold to slam the door on the Coyotes.
Bechtold allowed the go-ahead run to board, but he escaped with no damage done.
If the Bluejays' sixth inning wasn't bad enough for the Coyotes, they had to face the Bluejays' top of the lineup.
Down to their final out before bonus baseball, it was all up to Miles to end the game in seven innings.
The game almost ended up going extra innings, but Miles' shallow hit to right field slipped through the Coyote fielder's glove, allowing Keenan Morris to score from third.
The Bluejays' home stand continues today as they face Sterling in the make-up game from March 18 at 4 p.m.
On Saturday, the Bluejays host Friends in a 1 p.m. start.
