Phoenix, AZ- After fighting back to force a tie at 6-6, Arizona Christian gave up a five run seventh inning to drop an 11-6 result against College of Idaho on Friday afternoon.  Junior Jake Howard and Senior Hector Ortiz both went 2-4 with a double.

The first batter of the game for the Coyotes (2-0) doubled and eventually came into score.  In the third, COI tacked on three more runs to hold a 4-0 lead.

The Firestorm (0-2) had their chances early but two of their first three innings ended with double plays.

In the top of the fourth, Junior Andrew Mirasty recorded the lone true 1-2-3 inning of the game for the ACU pitching staff.

Offensively in the bottom of the inning, ACU used the 1-2-3 momentum to plate their first two runs.  An error and hit batter put runners on for Ortiz who doubled down the right field line to score Senior Jake Wakamatsu and Junior Chance Randall.  Ortiz was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

College of Idaho scored two more in the fifth for a 6-2 lead before Arizona Christian answered with four runs to tie the game at 6-6.  Seniors AJ Arroyo, Christopher Burks, and Tatum Hendrix all singled to begin the inning.  Senior Tate Erickson walked before Howard was hit by a pitch followed by a wild pitch to account for the four runs.

A scoreless sixth set the table for the seventh.  The Coyotes sent 10 men to the plate with the first four reaching on three singles and a walk.  Add in two more singles and just like that COI scored five runs.

ACU put a few runners on in the final innings but could not cut into their deficit.

On the day, the Firestorm used seven pitchers.  After Mirasty threw 4.1 innings nobody went longer than 1.1 innings which was Freshman Michael Chung.  Senior Cooper Johnson worked a solid sixth inning by facing four batters but the inning coming to an end on steal attempt.  However, Johnson was charged with the first three runs to begin the seventh and was tagged with the loss.

On Saturday, the Firestorm and Yotes will play two to wrap up the series.  Action will begin at Firestorm Field with a nice early start time of 9:00 am.