The Basics

Score: #8 Evangel 0, #1 Kansas Wesleyan 1 | Box Score

Record: Evangel (24-26), Kansas Wesleyan (43-9)

Location: Great Bend, Kan. (Great Bend Sports Complex)

GREAT BEND, Kan. – Valor Baseball took on the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes on Saturday (May 4th) afternoon, looking to keep their season alive in the conference tournament against the top-seeded squad.

Evangel hung tough with the top team in the tournament and out hit the Coyotes, 4-2, on Saturday, but could not push a run across to score, as a strong pitching duel ended in a defeat to Kansas Wesleyan, 1-0, concluding Evangel's 2024 season in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.

NOTABLE

• Seniors Levi Loughridge, Brooks Espy, Carson Sturdefant, and Jeremy Vickers carried the offense for Evangel all recording hits in their final game.

• Isaac Daley allowed just one run in five innings of work while Truett Gardner and Rolando Galvez both pitched scoreless and hitless frames in their final relief appearances of their career.

• Evangel's finish this season was the farthest EU Baseball had finished since the 2018 season, displaying an upward trend in the program.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• In the top of the first inning, Evangel's Riley Mitchell opened the game with a walk and was able to get all the way to third base on a Brooks Espy single, but the Valor could not get the run across to score, leaving it a 0-0 game.

• Evangel's Levi Loughridge singled with one out in the top of the fourth inning, but a strike out and line out left Loughridge stranded at first.

• The Valor nearly worked out of trouble in the fifth after a leadoff double to right center field, but with two outs, the Coyotes got their hit, scoring the runner and giving KWU a 1-0 lead.

• The Valor threatened in the top of the eighth inning, as Carson Sturdefant singled to left field to open the inning. Isaac Miller entered as a pinch runner and an attempt to get the offense going, tried to steal second base, but was cut down by the KWU catcher, emptying the bases. With two outs, Jeremy Vickers singled to left field, but again, the Valor could not get the runner to second, ending the inning still trailing by a run.

• After Truett Gardner and Rolando Galvez were able to hold the Coyotes bats at bay, the Valor came up for one final time in the top of the ninth inning. After a groundout and a fly out, Levi Loughridge came up to bat, looking to tie up the game. Loughridge sent a hard hit ball out to right field and although it appeared the ball might go the distance, the KWU right fielder made a nice play at the fence to end the season for the Valor, 1-0.

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