PHOENIX, Ariz. – Seeing grass and playing outside for the first time in 2017, the College of Idaho came up short in two late inning rallies, as Arizona Christian held on for a 4-2 victory over the Coyotes at Firestorm Field.
The Yotes (0-1), who have been forced to use the J.A. Albertson Activities Center gym floor for infield work, take indoor batting practice, pitch indoor bullpens and not field a fly ball throughout the month of January – had the tying runs on base in both the eighth and ninth innings, but could not get the key hit.
Trailing 3-0 after seven innings, the Coyotes loaded the bases with no outs – as
Sam Grise reached on a throwing error and both
Austin Van Horne and
Hunter Hanson walked.
Nathan Hundley was hit by a pitch to force in a run and following a strikeout and pop up,
Ryan Murkle was hit by the first pitch he saw to get the Yotes within a run. The rally would be cut short, however, as
Johnny Hyland grounded out to end the threat.
After the Firestorm (3-1) plated a run in the bottom of the inning on a C of I error, consecutive one-out singles by Grise and Van Horne put the tying runs on base in the ninth. Hanson flew out to the wall in center for the second out and pinch-hitter
Dominic Conigliaro grounded out to end the game.
ACU got on the board in the first, scoring on RBI groundout by Hector Ortiz and a run-scoring triple from Matt Mara, while adding a third run in the fifth on a Michael Dunnebecke RBI double. Starting pitcher Baylor Giannini was solid, allowing just two hits and striking out seven to earn the win, with Dunnebecke going 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
The Yotes got quality pitching from both
Zach Draper and
Riley O'Brien, as the duo each allowed two runs on four hits and struck out five. Van Horne was the story in his C of I debut – reaching base four times, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks.
The two teams meet tomorrow in Game 2 of the series, with first pitch set for 2 p.m. – with Live Stats/Video available online at
http://portal.stretchinternet.com/acu.
YOTE NOTES
- The Jan. 26 Opening Day for the Coyotes was the earliest in program history, surpassing last season's Jan. 28 season opener
- Along with Van Horne, Murkle made his C of I debut and had the Coyotes lone stolen base
- Grise threw out ACU's lone base-stealer, picking up where he left off in 2016 where he threw out 36-percent of base-runners
- Mason Stidham went 1-for-4 in his debut at designated hitter – making the transition from a pitcher to position player
- Head coach Shawn Humberger remains five wins away from breaking Tim Mooney's school record of 527 career wins – the most by any C of I coach in any sport
