Jarel Lewis went 5-for-7 in Coyote sweep
CALDWELL, Idaho - The College of Idaho clinched their 25th-straight playoff berth and their 25th-straight 25-win season by completing a four-game sweep of Concordia University, winning today's doubleheader 3-1 and 6-5 at Wolfe Field.
The Coyotes (26-14, 16-8 NAIA West), who have won 11-straight games at home, secured a berth in the five-team NAIA West Postseason Tournament in Atherton, Calif, May 5-7. The C of I has won 25-or-more games and advanced to the postseason every year since baseball returned to the College in 1987.
Levi Mitchum was stellar in the opener, going eight shutout innings, scattering just five hits, striking out six to pick up his fifth win of the season.
The Yotes got on the board in the second, as Gavin Gamboa gapped a one-out triple and scored on Brett Ward double into the left field corner. The C of I would push the lead to 2-0 in the fourth, as Kyle Douglas led off with a double, stole third, and scored when the throw sailed into left field. Douglas would make it 3-0 in the sixth, launching his fourth home run of the season.
The Cavaliers (10-29, 4-22) got a Tim Reavis sacrifice fly off closer Chad Yeggy in the ninth, but the junior got the final three outs to pick up his first save. Douglas and Jarel Lewis each had two hits in the Coyote win.
The C of I took an early 2-0 lead in Game 2, as Jeffrey Harris golfed an RBI triple, then trotted home on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt from Jordan Lanman. However, the Cavs would tie the score, getting an RBI single from Curt Cosby in the third, tying the game in the fourth on a two-out C of I error.
The Yotes would break the deadlock with a four-run sixth inning, keyed by an RBI single by Harris, a second squeeze-bunt single by Jordan Lanman, and a two-run single from Anthony Pawelek. However, the Yotes had to hang on, as CU got a pair of runs on a Danny Brown single and another on an infield out, but Todd Griffiths got Jared Young to ground out to end the game with the tying run at third.
Jarel Lewis went 3-for-3 in the nightcap, capping a 5-for-7 day, while Harris went 2-for-3 in Game 2. Cosby and Tommy Whalen each had two hits for the visitors.
The Yotes return to action next weekend with a four-game series at division-leading British Columbia, needing a sweep of the T-Birds to keep their North Division pennant hopes alive.