SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The College of Idaho held off Madonna (Mich.) 11-8 in the first elimination game of the Santa Barbara bracket in the Opening Round of the 2016 NAIA Baseball National Championships.
The No.5 seeded Coyotes (39-21) came out of the gates blazing, scoring three runs in the first inning thanks to a Dalton Ridgway single that scored Mitch Skaggs. Later in the inning, Jake Hennessey reached on a wild throw that scored a pair of Yotes to widen the early lead.
Madonna (Mich.), the No.2 seed in the bracket (41-17), also got on the board in the bottom half of the opening inning as Shane Dokey scored on a Ryan Lambrecht single.
C of I tacked on another run in the second when Mitch Skaggs flied out to center but deep enough to bring home Seth Champlin on the tag.
Madonna exploded in the bottom of the third, scoring six runs on five hits, including two Coyote miscues to take a 7-4 lead into the fourth.
That lead would not last long as the Yotes would rally with five of their own runs in the top of the fourth. Cole Mansanarez singled into shallow left-center, bringing home both Skaggs and Jake Bowman. The next batter, Ridgway, tripled to center, clearing the bases and bringing home Hunter Hanson and Mansanarez. Ridgway would cross the plate a few batters later, stealing home and scoring the fifth run of the inning in a monster fourth for C of I.
The Yotes added another run in the fifth when Nathan Hundley scored on a wild pitch from Madonna pitcher Alex Deyonker.
Both squads would be kept in check throughout the sixth and seventh frames but the Yotes broke through yet again in the eighth as Skaggs took a 1-1 count and blasted a ball over the right field wall to increase the C of I lead.
Madonna snapped their scoring drought in the bottom half of the eighth as Dokey scored on a Lambrecht single up the middle.
Madonna went down in their last at-bat in straight order, securing the Yotes victory and keeping their season alive.
Zach Draper threw 7.2 innings for C of I, allowing 4 earned runs and striking out seven.
The Coyotes advance to another elimination game later this afternoon in a rematch versus William Carey (Miss.), scheduled for 4 p.m. (PST).
