Tanner Coggins’ solo home run with two outs in the top of the seventh lifted Wabash to a 6-5 victory in game one Sunday, while sophomore pitcher Eric Foust held Ohio Wesleyan to one run in the Little Giants’ 8-1 win in game two. Wabash took three of four games from the Battling Bishops over the weekend to open the North Coast Athletic Conference portion of the 2010 season.
The Little Giants 5-3 lead was erased with two unearned runs by OWU in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 5-5. Coggins had already homered earlier in the game, launching a two-run shot in the third inning for a part of a four-run effort in the inning for Wabash.
Bishops starter Eric Livington’s first pitch to Coggins in the seventh was drilled over the left-center field fence for his third home run of the series. The junior finished the four-game series with seven hits and six RBI while hitting .438 for the weekend. He was 3-for-4 in the first game Sunday against the Bishops.
Sophomore Andrew Swart finished the game to pick up his first victory of the season. He worked seven innings of eight-hit baseball while walking two and striking out four.
Foust controlled game two from the mound for the Little Giants. The sophomore picked up his third victory of the season by scattering nine hits over seven innings. The only run of the game for the Battling Bishops came in the second inning on a bases-loaded single. Foust picked up three strikeouts --- all in the final inning --- without walking a single batter.
Wabash opened the second game with three consecutive one-out singles, bringing home the first run on an RBI hit by John Holm. Chris Deig brought home another run on a bases-loaded ground out to put the Little Giants up 2-0. Coggins added another run in the second with an RBI single to score PJ Tyson for a 3-0 lead.
After OWU scored a run in the bottom of the second, Montana Timmons hit a leadoff double to start the third inning and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of David Seibel.
The Little Giants broke the game open in the fourth when Brian Lares led off with a double to center. John Pennington followed with an infield single, moving to second on a throwing error by the Bishops that brought Lares home with the fifth run of the game for the Little Giants. Coggins reached on another error by OWU, setting up a two-run triple by Holm to bring home two more runs for the Little Giants. Holm added the final run of the game when he raced home on a wild pitch.
Pennington led the Little Giant hitters in the final game with three hits, while Coggins and Holm each added two. Holm’s three RBI give him 24 for the season to lead the Little Giants.
Wabash is 7-10 for the season. The Little Giants finish the weekend in second place in the western division of the NCAC after Wittenberg took four games from Earlham College. Wittenberg will travel to Wabash for a key four-game series against the Little Giants beginning Saturday afternoon.
