CALDWELL, Idaho –
Kole Lane lifted a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the College of Idaho to a 7-6 victory in Game 1 of today's doubleheader with Montana State-Billings at Wolfe Field.
Game 2 was suspended after nine innings, tied 12-12 – after C of I rallied from a 7-0 first inning deficit, forcing extra innings after a two-out, three-run homer from
Austin Van Horne in the ninth. The game will resume on Sunday at 11 a.m. – with the original single game set to follow.
The opener went back and forth, as the Yellowjackets (3-2) plated a pair of first inning runs – one on a Jalen Garcia RBI fielders' choice, with Garcia scoring after eluding a pickoff move by the Yotes and circling the bases on two C of I errors.
The Coyotes (6-8) evened the score in the second on a two-run
Ryan Murkle single and grabbed a 5-2 lead in the fourth, as Van Horne walked with the bases loaded – with the pitch going to the backstop, allowing a second run to score – with a third run scoring on an MSUB error.
The visitors cut the lead to 5-4 in the sixth on a two-run RBI double from Andrew Schleusner, but the Yotes answered in the bottom of the inning on a two-out RBI single from
Dominic Conigliaro.
The Yellowjackets tied the score with two outs in the seventh, stringing together three hits – including a Garcia RBI double and an RBI single from Hayden Humphrey to make it 6-6.
C of I won it in their final at bat – as Van Horne walked with one out, moving to third on a Conigliaro single. Lane ripped a fastball to the warning track in center, easily scoring Van Horne with the clincher.
K.J. Strickland got the win in relief for the Yotes, allowing two runs on four hits in three innings of work. Conigliaro had the lone multi-hit game for C of I, going 2-for-3, as the Coyotes were limited to just five hits by MSUB pitching, but took advantage of eight walks and two hit by pitches.
Chase Teter had three hits, with Garcia, Adam Cox and Conner Linebarger each recording two hits for MSUB.
