Coe stays in IIAC winner's bracket with wild win over Wartburg

CEDAR RAPIDS - So can we file this one under the subtitle “It shouldn't be this hard to win a baseball game?”

“Yes, you can,” Coe College baseball coach Steve Cook said, shaking his head. “Unbelievable.”

Coe continued on in the winner's bracket of the Iowa Conference tournament after beating Wartburg Thursday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium, 10-9, and that's the most important thing. But the second-seeded Kohawks could have obtained this victory so much easier.

Coe (25-15) blew a 5-1 lead in the eighth inning and saw a 9-5 lead in the ninth go away. Adam Nissenson's sacrifice fly to center with one out in the bottom of the ninth allowed the Kohawks to walk off winners. Make that relieved winners.

“The last couple of innings, everything just out of control,” Nissenson said.

“You don't like us going out there and ... we'd like to do a better job with that lead,” Cook said. “But it's college baseball, and stuff happens.”

It was a tidy game through seven innings, as Coe starting pitcher Wade Morris was throwing a nice little three-hitter. But he walked the first two Wartburg hitters in the eighth and was replaced.

Three hits followed, and Wartburg (23-19) eventually had its tie. Coe responded with four runs in the bottom of the eighth to re-establish its lead, but again Wartburg rallied.

Two mental errors by Coe were crucial. Shortstop Brennan Melloy double-pumped on a routine grounder to begin the inning and never did get off a throw. First baseman Nissenson ran toward the mound instead of first on a two-out grounder up the middle he thought was going through the infield but that Coe second baseman Scott DeAngelis fielded.

“We had a couple of what seemed like mental lapses defensively,” Coe center fielder Nick Stein said. “But, overall, we came back and won the ballgame.”

Thanks to Nissenson. He smashed a 1-2 curve from fellow lefty Michael Schinstock deep to center to score DeAngelis with the winning run.

“Thank God my teammates were on base,” Nissenson said. “I love hitting with two strikes. I don't mind hitting with two strikes. I don't strike out a lot, I don't like to. I hit into a double play earlier in that situation, but Coach was like ‘Just go out there like you're 5-for-5 with two doubles.' Good things happened.”

Coe plays fifth-seeded Buena Vista (23-17) in a winner's bracket game Friday at 1. The double-elimination tourney's other entrants (Central, Wartburg, Luther and Simpson) all have one loss.

Top-seeded Central lost to Buena Vista, 8-7. BV beat Luther earlier Thursday, 8-5, and Wartburg beat Simpson, 6-3.