Coe College Baseball Release
Contact: Ryan Workman, Sports Information Director
E-mail: sid@coe.edu

Kohawks crush 13 hits in IIAC Tourney win over Luther

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa. - After last night's five hit performance, the Coe baseball team bounced back today with 13 hits, including four doubles, to beat Luther 6-2 in the consolation round of the Iowa Conference Tournament. Senior Cody Smith (Iowa City, Iowa/City) and junior Tyler McAllister (Ursa, Ill./Mendon-Unity) combined for seven hits to lead the Kohawks, whom improved to 22-19 with the win.

After the Norse scored on a sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning, the Kohawks answered with two runs in the bottom half to take the lead and never looked back. Smith led off the inning with an infield single and later stole second base. With one out, sophomore Ryan Schisler (Morrison, Ill./Morrison) singled to left field, advancing Smith to third. Schisler moved up to second as freshman Ryan Velvick (Swisher, Iowa/Prairie) grounded out to the pitcher. With two outs, McAllister doubled to left center field, plating both Schisler and Smith to end the inning.

Neither team could put any runs up until the bottom of the fourth, when the Kohawks exploded for three runs on four hits, while still leaving two runners on base. Freshman Jeff Wagner (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo) was the first Kohawk on base with a one out walk. Wagner moved up to second on sophomore Eric Hanna's (Marion, Iowa/Marion) infield single. Wagner then stole third to put runners at the corners for sophomore Joe Swanson (Marion, Iowa/Marion). Swanson drilled a single to right field to score both Wagner and Hanna, putting the Kohawks up 4-1. Swanson advanced to second on a single by Smith and later scored on a single by senior Ryan Baranowski (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich).

The Kohawks added another run in the bottom of the sixth, as Smith scored on a double to right center by Velvick. The inning ended with two runners on base, the third straight inning Coe had left two runners on base.

Luther threatened in the top of the eighth, scoring one run on one hit, but they left two runners on to end the inning. Coe tried to add some insurance runs in the bottom half of the eighth, but again left three runners on base.

Smith finished 4-for-5 on the day with two runs scored, while McAllister was 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Schisler was 2-for-3 with a run scored and Swanson finished with two RBIs.

The Kohawks, the third seed in the tournament, return to action tonight at 7 p.m. against the winner of the Simpson and Loras game. The Storm are the number two seed, while the Duhawks are the five seed.