LEWISTON, Idaho – As Day Four of the 2023 NAIA Avista World Series began, six teams still had Red Banner dreams within reach, but as the lights were turned off at Harris Field only four remained – Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Southeastern (Fla.), Westmont (Calif.), and William Carey (Miss.). The Westmont Warriors are the lone remaining undefeated team and will have to be beaten twice over the last three days of the championship.

GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS

No. 9 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (36-17) def. No. 7 Taylor (Ind.) (42-17), 8-3

• Scoring got started in Taylor’s first trip to the plate, as TJ Bass knocked a homer down the left line which brought home Kaleb Kolpien for a 2-0 lead
• In the bottom of the first, the Warriors began to take control of the game – first off a fielding error by the Trojan defense and then a grand slam from Dominic Signorelli, scoring Isaiah Thomas, Charlie Updegrave, and Isaac Haws
• This was the first grand slam in the World Series since Anthony Carrera in 2021 during the Southeastern (Fla.) vs. LSU-Shreveport game
• In the top of the fourth inning, the Trojans had the bases loaded by an error, walk, and single to left field before Kolpien had an RBI walk; A fly-out to right and a groundout double play got the Warriors out of the jam to preserve their 5-3 advantage
• LCSC created some separation in the bottom of the fifth, tacking on another run with a RBI groundout from Thomas
• The next trip to the plate, Nick Seamons hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Jordan Justice and bring the score to 7-3
• During LC State’s last at-bat, Seamons once again hit a sacrifice fly to center, this time scoring pinch hitter Joe Canty to making it a five run margin
• Greg Blackman (W, 3-1) earned the decision with 5.1 innings of work out of the pen while Alec Holmes (Sv, 2) got the 10 out save for the Warriors; Updegrave, Thomas, and Jakob Marquez tallied 6 of 11 hits for LC
• In the loss, Bass and Kolpien had two hits each while combining for all three RBI and two runs scored; Gabel Pentecost (L, 6-6) was awarded the loss allowing four earned in three innings on the hill

No. 1 Southeastern (Fla.) (57-5) def. No. 8 Indiana Wesleyan (41-20-1), 6-4

• Indiana Wesleyan had chances to break through scoring, in the top of the second, third, and fourth innings; Meanwhile, the Fire hadn’t gotten a base runner past first base
• In the top of the fifth, Luke Roman singled and stole second base before being moved over to third off a bunt from Lucas Goodin, later scoring on a RBI single to right field by Ty Mathews
• The next batter was hit by the pitch before a double steal put Evan Salmon and Jake Thompson in scoring position; Bryce Ginder’s single through the left side scored both of them and bringing the count to 3-0
• Southeastern’s offense awoke in the bottom of the sixth as David Castillo blasted a solo shot to right center field; Adonys Herrera singled through the left side to score Josh Pigozzo and Nick Block and tie the game 3-3
• Mathews hit a one out homerun to center field which briefly gave the Wildcats the lead back, but Chayce Bryant led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo bomb to left field
• For the first time in the game, the Fire grabbed control and a 6-4 lead off the sacrifice fly from Pigozzo and an unearned run scored off Nunez reaching by IWU error
• With only three outs left to tie the game, Goodin started the Wildcats on the right paw with a lead-off double off the center field fence
• He would move over to third on a two out single by Jenkins and the bases would be loaded on a drawn walk by Ginder, but a strikeout would end the game for Indiana Wesleyan
• Andrew Long (W, 8-0) was the victor for the Fire and Reese Wissinger (Sv, 6) got the final six outs; Castillo was the hot bat going 3-4 while Stephen Cullen was 2-4

No. 3 Westmont (Calif.) (46-8) def. No. 4 William Carey (Miss.) (49-10), 7-3

• After a scoreless first inning, William Carey broke open the scoring to the tune of three runs – two of which came off a triple down the right field line by RJ Stinson and Bobby Lada’s single to first base
• Westmont climbed back into things and closed it to a 3-2 gap on Finn Snyder singling to left field and Shane Hotfstadle hitting a sacrifice fly to left
• The Warriors fought back to a 3-3 tie when Robby Haw singled through the right side and scored Daniel Patterson
• Three innings later, the Warriors knocked back-to-back doubles to break the stalemate before the bases got loaded by an intentional walk and a hit by pitch; This allowed the Patterson single up the middle to bring the score to 5-3
• Westmont further built their lead in the bottom of the eighth, adding a sixth run on Ryan DeSaegher’s sacrifice fly to center, scoring Michael Soper, and a seventh on a RBI walk drawn by Snyder
• For the game, Synder was 2-3 while Haw was 2-4; Zach Yates (W, 4-1) earned the decision in middle relief while Gabe Arteaga (Sv, 9) rounded out the final five outs for the Warriors
• In the loss, Stinson, Lada, and Preston Ratcliffe combined for six of the Crusaders seven hits

COVERAGE                         

BRACKET | SCHEDULE | LIVE STREAM