LEWISTON, Idaho –  [SCHEDULE | BRACKET] The second day of action at the 67th Annual Avista NAIA World Series at Harris Field featured Hope International (Calif.) and Cumberlands (Ky.) earning their first ever wins in the event. The winner's bracket features only one team that was the highest seed - Georgia Gwinnett, while the elimination bracket features two programs which have Red Banners in their history. 

GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS 

No. 4 Hope International (Calif.) (41-16) defeats No. 8 Kansas Wesleyan (48-12), 11-5

• The Coyotes started the contest hot, as Kendall Foster belted a two RBI jack as only the second KWU batter of the game
• HIU countered right back, recording four runs in the bottom of the first inning
• Derek Sims doubled down the left field line to tie the game before the Royals went up 4-2 on a Coyotes fielding error
• In the bottom of the second, JJ Cruz homered to right field to put the Royals up 5-2
• Kansas Wesleyan closed the gap to 5-4 with an RBI groundout from Cruz Oxford and a solo home run from Tyler Favretto
• Leading by one run, Amari Bartee singled to center while scored Ryan Maciel
• Heading to the bottom of the fourth, the Royals had their eyes on an even bigger lead; Dean Toigo had a RBI single up the middle before Maciel doubled down the right field line to bring Toigo home
• Trailing 9-4, the Coyotes kept fighting with a solo shot to left field off the bat of Reece Bishop closing it to a four run margin
• The Royals tallied two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, bringing the score to 11-5 and ending the scoring for both sides
• Brett Maddock (L, 9-3) allowed six runs in 2.2 innings on the hill for the Coyotes; David Rudd-Grow (W, 2-2) went 5.1 for the Royals allowing six hits and five runs before Josh Landry got his first save of the year by recording the final 11 outs
• Offensively, Foster and Jarrett Gable tallied four of KWU’s seven hits
• Six Royals recorded two hits in the game, but Cruz was the star going 2-5 with an RBI and three runs scored

No. 3 Cumberlands (Ky.) (52-7) defeats No. 7 William Carey (Miss.) (37-16), 6-4

• Max Harper broke the scoreless trend with an RBI single to right center, scoring Christian Thompson in the bottom of the third
• William Carey countered back with a solo launch from Preston Ratliff in the fourth
• The Patriots once again took the lead on an RBI single from Harper which scored Jay Flynn
• During the Crusaders next at-bat, Braydon Coffey blasted a three run shot to left field, giving WCU a 4-2 lead
• It was short lived as Charlie Muniz launched a grand slam to left center field, which gave the Patriots the winning margin
• Cumberlands earned their first program win at the World Series in the their fourth total game
• Jerod Williams, Rigoberto Hernandez, and Ratliff each recorded a pair of hits in the contest for William Carey
• Similarly, a trio of Patriots led the offense with two hits each by  Evan St. Claire, Muniz, and Harper
• Dario Herrera (L, 6-2) was given the decision after allowing six hits and five runs in 5.1 innings of work
• Cesar Avila (W, 13-0) remains perfect on the season allowing just four runs in seven innings and Chipper Korbacher got his 12^th save of the season

No. 9 Arizona Christian (38-19) defeats No. 1 Southeastern (Fla.) (51-7), 5-3 (11 innings)

• Southeastern, the top seed in the tournament, got on the board in the bottom of the third when Cristopher Munoz hit a solo homerun to left field
• Then, during his next at bat, Munoz singled to right center scoring Josh Smith
• Arizona Christian closed it to a 2-1 margin in the top of the sixth on an RBI groundout from Trey Tarver and then tied it up with the next batter
• Kane Kiaunis singled to left, and after a fielding error by the Fire, allowed Andrew Ivy to score and make it 2-2
• In the top of the eighth, Jared Anderson singled to right which scored Deshon Thomas to give the Firestorm a one run lead
• With one out away in the ninth, Landry Wilkerson stole third base and then scored on a throwing error to tie the game 3-3 and force extra innings
• Game Seven was the first to go into bonus baseball at the 2024 World Series
• In the 11^th, Matthew Beckworth singled through the left side to score Anderson and then Riley Quinton later scored on a wild pitch for the 5-3 margin
• Kiaunis and Anderson led the offense for Arizona Christian while Trey Tarver picked up his first win of the year for pitching the last six outs of the game
• For SEU, Reece Wissinger (L, 1-1) was given the decision for allowing the winning two runs across 2.2 innings on the bump
• Alfonso Villalobos and Munoz recorded four of the seven hits for the Fire
• Arizona Christian is now 5-0 in Lewiston this postseason, going 3-0 in the Opening Round and 2-0 to date in the World Series

No. 2 Georgia Gwinnett (52-7) defeats No. 10 Indiana Southeast (37-19), 5-2

• After 3.5 scoreless innings, the Grizzlies finally broke through scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth
• The first came on sacrifice bunt where the play at the plate was broken up, the next was an RBI ground out and the third was a single to left field by Joe Quelch
• During their next trip to the plate, Braxton Meguiar singled to right field scoring Peyton Peoples
• In the top of the seventh, Logan Murphy double to left field which scored Max Flock and cut it to a 4-1 count favoring GGC
• The Grenadiers trimmed it to a 4-2 deficit on a fielder’s choice off the batted ball by Slater Schield
• Georgia Gwinnett put a little more distance as Jackson Cobb singled to left and score Peoples for a 5-2 score
• Connor Sims (L, 4-3) ends on the wrong side of the affair after allowing four runs and six hits in five innings
• Kaleb Hill (W, 11-1) went the distance for the Grizzlies striking out nine on 144 pitches
• Matthew Lee was 3-4 in the game to lead GGC while Blaze O’Saben and Cobb had two hits each
• Murphy tallied two of the four hits for the Grenadiers with Flock and Mason White recording the others

COVERAGE               

BRACKET | SCHEDULE | LIVE STREAM