LEWISTON, Idaho – Beautiful weather graced Harris Field as Memorial Day was celebrated at the 66^th Annual Avista NAIA World Series. William Carey (Miss.) and Westmont (Calif.) moved forward in the winner’s bracket while Crusaders head coach Bobby Halford won his 1,300^th career game this evening.

GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS

No. 8 Indiana Wesleyan (41-19-1) def. No. 2 Georgia Gwinnett (50-8), 11-10

• The Wildcats and Grizzlies played earlier this year in a three-game slate from February 3-4 in the season opener for both teams – with GGC taking two of three games
• In their first trip to the plate, three IWU batters were hit in a four at-bat span, tying a World Series record set 2017 in the third inning between The Master’s (Calif.) and Science and Arts (Okla.)
• With the bases loaded, Ty Mathews scored the first run off a wild pitch followed by a two run RBI single to center field by MJ Stavola
• In the second inning, Indiana Wesleyan took advantage of a GGC fielding error and double, setting the table for a deep home run by Mathews over the left field fence to score Lucas Goodin and Luke Roman
• Four more runs were added in the frame, bringing the Wildcat lead to 10-0; Another drawn walk and single laid the foundation for Jeff Morton to hit a three run blast to right field
• Facing the largest deficit to start a game in Series history, the Grizzlies were not going down without a fight - scoring five runs in the top of the fourth
• GGC plated its first run on a RBI single from Braxton Meguiar, followed by a three run homer by Caden Smith, and wrapped things up with a solo shot to right field by Devin Warner
• Trailing 10-6 entering the top of the eighth, the Grizzlies got themselves back in the ballgame scoring runs on three consecutive batters– Cohen Wilbanks doubled down the right field line, Warner singled to first, and Brody Parkerson’s pinch hit sac-fly to center field
• With the score showing 10-9 favoring IWU, pinch runner Colin Yoder stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error, before being brought home by a sacrifice fly from Colby Jenkins
• The insurance run was key, as a ninth inning solo homerun from Ajay Sczepowski to left field, brought about the final score
• Reliever Grayson Knight (W, 4-3) earned the win for his 2.2 innings of work; Jake Engelkes was awarded his first save of the season getting the last five outs
• GGC starter Cameron Repetti (L, 12-1) ended up on the wrong side of a results for the first time all season, allowing five runs in less than two innings
• The Grizzlies offense was led by Joe Quelch (3-5), Scepkowki (2-3), Warner (2-3), and Mequiar (2-4) while the nine hits for the Wildcats came from eight different batters – Goodin was the IWU player with two

No. 9 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (35-17) def. No. 10 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (35-28), 16-7

• The Pioneers started hot with a single by Sean Maple and a fielding error by LCSC, serving up the stage for Noah Castillo to launch a three run shot over the left field fence
• During their first trip to the plate, the Warriors wasted no time in tying the game at 3-3, first with an RBI double by Charlie Updegrave, then a wild pitch, and finally a RBI groundout from Isaiah Thomas
• The momentum continued for LC State as they score five runs in the bottom of the second, blowing the game wide open; It started with a two run single to left filed by Nick Seamons and ended with Updegrave’s three RBI homerun to center field
• MNU slowed the action as Castillo’s sacrifice fly scored Maple, bringing it to an 8-4 count
• Another monster offensive output by the Warriors came via a single, hit by pitch, and walk which allowed Seamons to drove home a pair with his single, followed by a Sam Olsson groundout to third
• The bottom of the fourth inning began with back-to-back home runs by Thomas and Dominic Signorelli – with the most recent occurrence being in the fifth inning of Southeastern (Fla.) vs. LSU-Shreveport (La.) in 2021
• Three more runs were scored during the at-bat, bringing the score to 16-4 when a single by Charlie Booth plated a pair and a wild pitch brought Booth himself home
• The Pioneers clawed back a pair of runs in the seventh inning and another in the eighth – two on a Joey Calamaio homerun and the other on a solo launch off the bat of Maple
• MidAmerica Nazarene’s Ryan Wilwers (L, 2-6) was given the loss after allowing six runs while Jace Hanson (W, 2-1) went seven innings to snag his second win of the season for LCSC
• Maple was the offensive standout for MNU going 3-4 while Castillo had four RBI’s
• A trio of Warriors players recorded three hits each in the win – Booth, Seamons, and Pu’ukani De Sa

No. 3 Westmont (Calif.) (45-8) def. No. 7 Taylor (Ind.) (42-16), 15-9

• After Westmont had gone three up, three down for both of their first trips to the plate, fortunes changed in the top of the third – scoring seven runs off three hits and one error
• Liam Critchett scored off a fielder’s choice by Robbie Haw, followed by Brady Renck’s two RBI single to right field leading to a pitching change; Bryce McFeely had an RBI walk setting up a sacrifice fly by Parker O’Neil and a double down the right field line by Finn Snyder
• After the Warriors added a run in the top of the fourth, the Taylor bats woke up to the tune of three runs in the fourth and six runs in the fifth
• Taylor’s first run came off Ben Kalbaugh’s double to right field followed by Sam Gladd’s two run dinger over the right field fence
• The next inning, TJ Bass hit a three run homer bringing home Kaebl Kolpien and Camden Knepp before Gladd blasted a three run shot to right field; Gladd’s two home runs in back-to-back plate appearances is the latest occurrence since Shawn Ross did it in 2021, Faulkner (Ala.) vs. Georgia Gwinnett
• After the Trojans took the lead 9-8, Westmont countered back in the top of the sixth with a drawn walk by Haw and then Ryan DeSaegher bringing two runs home on a jack to left field
• Later, in the eighth, the Warriors added another pairs off runs – off singles from McFeely and O’Neil scoring Renck and DeSaegher
• Taylor was in great position to climb back from the 12-9 deficit, but despite the loaded bases, the eighth inning ended on a groundout double play
• Leaving nothing to chance, Westmont added two insurance runs off the swing of the bat from Renck which scored Haw and then Michael Soper off the fielding error in the outfield; Later a sacrifice fly from DeSaeigher scored Renck and brought the score to 15-9
• Aidan Holly (W, 5-1) earned the decision for the Warriors while Lucien Wechsberg (Sv, 3) received the save for his two innings on the bump
• DeSaegher was 3-4 with four RBI and three runs while Renck was 2-5 with three RBI and three runs scored in the victory
• Suffering their first loss in Lewiston, they were guided offensively by Gladd who was 4-4 with five RBI and two runs score and Bass who added three RBI of his own

No. 4 William Carey (Miss.) (49-9) def. No. 1 Southeastern (Fla.) (56-5), 13-4

• Beginning with a drawn walk by Josh Pigozzo and a double from Isaac Nunez, the Fire opened up scoring for the game off a WCU wild pitch
• Despite two outs being punched, the Crusaders put up two runs to take the lead off a Patrick Lee homerun to center field
• In the bottom of the third, William Carey came alive once again starting with a double by Bobby Lada and a single from Jake Lycette both of whom were brought home by batted balls from Preston Ratliff and Rigoberto Hernandez
• Leading 4-1, the Crusaders continued to build the lead with a two RBI double to right field by Lycette and a Lee double that landed less than a foot inside fair territory down the left line
• Top six, Stephen Cullen knocked a single to right, scoring Adonys Herrera with the inning ending with Gary Lora being thrown out at home by the right fielder leaving the score 7-2 WCU
• William Carey broke open the game with a leadoff homerun by Lycette in the bottom of the seventh before adding two more runs to bring the score to 10-2; Bailee Hendon reached first on a fielding error which scored both Ratliff and Hernandez
• In the bottom of the eighth, three straight walks by SEU allowed Hernandez to single through the right sound and score a pair, followed by Wilson’s groundout scoring the final run of the game
• WCU starter AJ Stinson (W, 8-2) threw a complete game throwing 156 total pitches and allowing two earned; Offensively, Lycette was 4-4 with three RBI and four scored runs while Ratliff, Hernandez, Lee, and Lada combined for nine hits, seven RBI, and seven scored runs
• The Fire had Cullen, Nunez, Nick Block, and Jose Marcano earned all eight teams six hits; Robb Adams Robb Adams (L, 7-2) was on the losing side of a game for only the second time this season.

COVERAGE                         

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