Bethany takes doubleheader
from Wesleyan
by Arne Green, The Salina Journal
The Salina Journal:  Sunday, April 26, 1998-  Page  D2
Bethany Baseball '98
    Kansas Wesleyan's best-laid plans unraveled suddenly Saturday against the Bethany Swedes, and once they did it was all downhill for the Coyotes.
    Bethany's six-run fourth inning in the opener not only erased a 6-0 deficit, but effectively shutdown Wesleyan's running game the rest of the day, propelling the Swedes to a 14-7, 9-1 doubleheader sweep at Dean Evans Stadium.
    "We worked on some things we knew we could explore - delayed steals and double steals,"said Wesleyan coach Tim Bellew, whose Coyotes fell to 9-25 overall and 5-11 in the KCAC. "We knew they would work and they did for three innings.
    "We were as prepared as we could be, but one bad inning turned the tide. When you've got a good team down and give them life, they make you pay. They've got a good club, and like I told our kids, we just got beat by a better team."
    Bethany, which improved to 20-16 overall and 10-4 in the league, took an 8-7 lead with two runsin the fifth inning, then added one in the sixth and five in the seventh for the victory.
    Jeremy Cantrell tossed a complete-game six hitter while Jason Schmeiser and Nate Sungy belted solo home runs in the nightcap for the Swedes.
    "Kansas Wesleyan - not only because it's such a great rivalry - in my years as head coach hasbeen our nemesis in the conference," said Bethany coach Mike Waldie, whose Swedes entered thegames tied with Sterling for the league lead. "To come here and be down 6-0 after three innings with our ace one mound it would have been easy for us to just look ahead to the second game.
    "That shows the strides we've made toward being a championship team. Our two freshmen (relief pitchers Daniel Regan and Clint Strassburg) came in and did a great job and then our bats woke up."
    Wesleyan got to Bethany starter Clay Witt for two runs in each of the first three innings to build its 6-0 lead. Rocko Talley hit a two-run homer in the first and Jason Ybarra a two-run double in the second.
    But Coyote starter Chad Holmes, who wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam with none out in the third inning, walked the first two batters, then hit one to start the fourth. After Pat Patterson hit a pop fly to second base for the first out, Darren Kaustinen singled home two runs and Brad Schrader another, with Kaustinen scoring when the ball was mishandled by Ybarra in right field. Mike Jackson's RBI single and Bobby Richardson's run-scoring double tied it.
    After Wesleyan regained the lead on Jorge Varela's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth, David Bard belted a two-run pinch-hit homer in the seventh to put Bethany in front for good. Sungy added a
three-run homer in the five-run seventh for the Swedes.
    Regan pitched the fourth inning to get the victory for Bethany and Strassburg the last three for his second save. David Gardner, who replaced Holmes in the fifth inning, took the loss.
    In the second game, Schmeiser led off the second inning with a home run and Schrader drove in two more with a single to give Bethany a 3-0 lead. That was enough for Cantrell, who struck out two and walked one without allowing an earned run.
    "Jeremy did another great job, throwing strikes," Waldie said of Cantrell, who improved to 7-3 with the victory. "We're doing the little things, like moving baserunners. We work on hitting the ball where it's pitched and it worked out well today."
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