NAIA World Series

A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE

F R I D AY, M AY 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

Series

Leadoff

Home is where the HARDBALL is Five Lewiston High grads opt to stay home and play for the Warriors / 10

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

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2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES BRACKET ALL GAMES PLAYED AT LCSC’S HARRIS FIELD, LEWISTON | DOUBLE ELIMINATION FRIDAY’S GAMES

SATURDAY’S GAMES

MONDAY’S GAMES

TUESDAY’S GAMES

7 IU Southeast (48-14) 3 P.M.

10 Concordia (42-10)

4 7 P.M.

8

2 Central Methodist (x-x)

6 Faulkner (38-10) 7 P.M.

3 Lewis-Clark State (41-4)

3

12

THURSDAY’S GAME

Game 16 and 17 pairings, involving four remaining teams, to be determined by tournament committee

If TWO teams are remaining after Games 16 and 17 ...

7 P.M.

1 Southeastern (x-x) 3 P.M.

8 Kaiser (36-16)

7 P.M.

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES

7 P.M.

15 7 P.M.

1 9 LSU Shreveport (44-14)

3 P.M.

7 P.M.

17 If THREE teams are remaining after Games 16 and 17 ...

2 11 a .m.

8:30 A .M. 8:30 A .M.

13

5

3 P.M.

11:30 A .M.

Champion

9 3 P.M.

11:30 A .M.

19

11

4 Okla. Wesleyan (49-9) 5 Ga. Gwinnett (46-10)

18

7

8:30 A .M.

11:30 A .M.

FRIDAY’S GAME

16

7 P.M.

18

14

10

19 7 P.M.

6

Series

Leadoff INDEX

Let’s. Play. Ball!

We are proud to be the longtime title sponsor of the Avista NAIA World Series. And, as we celebrate five decades of championship baseball at Harris Field inside Ed Cheff Stadium, we thank the loyal fans as well as the participants, partners and volunteers who help bring this exciting event to the Lewis-Clark Valley.

Please enjoy the games.

Concordia (10 Seed) ...........................................3 LSU Shreveport (9) ........................................... 4 Keiser (8) .......................................................... 6 IU Southeast (7)................................................. 8 Faulkner (6) ......................................................10 Georgia Gwinnett (5) ........................................ 11 The grass is greener at the home ballpark ...... 12 Oklahoma Wesleyan (4) .................................. 15 Lewis-Clark State (3) ....................................... 16 Central Methodist (2) ........................................19 Southeastern (1) .............................................. 21 SPORTS EDITOR: DONN WALDEN ON THE COVER: Lewis-Clark State’s (from left): Alex Light, Jackson Fuller, Jaden Phillips, Luke White and Riley Way pose for a portrait at Harris Field on Tuesday afternoon in Lewiston.

The five Warrior ballplayers all graduated from Lewiston High Schoo in 2017. | Photo by PETE CASTER of the Tribune.

F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

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10 SEED

Bulldogs break ground with Series bid Dramatic program turnaround for Nebraska school Concordia culminates in its first trip to title tournament at Lewiston “(Fosgett) has over 100 strikeouts,” Dupic said. “He was leading the country in strikeouts-per-game at one point. He When coach Ryan Dupic took charge at was our conference pitcher of the year.”

Concordia in 2014, the school was riding Grabanski has blasted an individual a streak of 35 consecutive losing seasons. single-season school record of 17 home Within the first year of Dupruns this spring, heading up the ic’s tenure, his Bulldogs turned strongest roster of batters in the corner to become a winning Concordia history. team and tied the school re“Our offense has almost cord with a 25-victory season. doubled the single-season school Multiple record-breaking runs record for home runs,” Dupic and Great Plains Athletic Connoted. ference titles would follow the Concordia’s Jesse Garcia, next several years before their Keaton Candor and Jayden Ad2020 campaign was canceled ams also were first-team all-conin response to the coronavirus ference selections.

Dupic pandemic.

Concordia never has played The resumption of college IU Southeast before, but Dupic baseball this spring has brought is researching the Grenadiers with it another new milestone ahead of their meeting. for Concordia, of Seward, Neb., “They look like a very, very as the team has qualified for its good team,” he said. “Once you first-ever Avista NAIA World get to this point, every team that Series appearance. you’re going to play is really The Bulldogs (42-10), who good. A really special team that I battled past Bellevue of Nebelieve is making their first trip braska 7-5 in national champito the Series as well.”

Grabanski Newcomer Concordia finds onship Opening Round play to clinch their berth, begin their run here itself taking on a familiar role as an underdog at this year’s NAIA World Sefacing IU Southeast at 3 p.m. today.

“It’s been a fun ride,” Dupic said. ries; the Bulldogs are seeded 10th.

“When I think about this team and re“This is my seventh year at Concordia, and I’ve been blessed. The program has flect on this team, it’s been how selfless taken some tremendous strides thanks they are,” Dupic said. “We’ve come from to great coaches, administration and behind a lot this year, and found a way to families. This season things have really win some games late. Pitching a whole come together. We’ve had fun with some bunch of different guys — you know, evguys — really connected guys and found erybody’s been really selfless. If people in your area come and watch this team, a way to win ball games of late.”

Leaders on the field for Concordia they’re going to watch a team that has a include senior pitching standout Jake lot of fun and loves each other, and just Fosgett and big-hitting freshman Joey competes really well. I think that’s what makes this team special.”

Grabanski.

By CODY WENDT SPORTS STAFF

> Concordia Location: Seward, Neb. Nickname: Bulldogs Coach: Ryan Dupic (seventh season) Season record: 42-10 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 19 How qualified: Won Bellevue Bracket Number of appearances: First appearance.

> Juice (out of five stars) STARTERS:  Fosgett ranks second in the national in strikeouts

Concordia University

Concordia ace Jake Fosgett, a senior, brings with him a 9-0 win-loss record and a 1.36 ERA. Opponents are batting just .154 against him this season, and his walks-and-hits-per-inning-pitched (WHIP) is a sterling 0.792.

per game at 16.30, and has held opponents to the second-lowest batting average at .154.

RELIEVERS:  Dupic cites reliance on relievers as an important element of his program.

FIELDING:  With a fielding percentage tied for 38th nationally at .959, the Bulldogs might find this to be a relative weak point.

HITTING:  Concordia ranks ninth nationally in batting average at .342 and eighth in home runs with 90.

SPEED:  The Bulldogs enter the Series ninth in the NAIA for stolen bases per game at 2.52.

INTANGIBLES:  Concordia has regularly shown resilience and pulled through tight games this season, including in its rally to victory with three late home runs for a 7-5 defeat of Bellevue to qualify for the Series.

CONCORDIA STATS BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI Jayden Adams 76 16 2 5 40 Keaton Candor 64 9 0 13 50 Beau Dorman 63 16 1 10 41 Joey Grabanski 70 14 0 17 60 Jose Cevallos 40 4 0 1 12 Jesse Garcia 62 17 0 14 49 Ben Berg 53 10 0 7 42 Teyt Johnson 48 11 1 7 45 Jakob Faulk 42 2 0 13 42 Totals 586 115 9 90 428 Opponents 367 75 5 27 197 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB Nolan Johnson 0.68 2-0 13.1 9 2 1 5 Jake Fosgett 1.36 9-0 53 29 10 8 13 Jacob Lycan 1.37 1-0 19.2 13 6 3 10 Caden Bugarske 2.73 2-1 24 21 10 4 3 Nathan Buckallew 2.30 4-0 27.1 19 10 7 7 Ryan Samuelson 3.46 0-1 13 9 10 5 4 Caden Johnson 3.68 0-0 14.2 18 6 6 3 Shane Whittaker 4.10 4-1 26.1 28 18 12 16 Trenton Wood 4.10 6-2 63.2 60 35 29 19 Alex Johnson 4.24 2-0 23.1 15 12 11 18 Adrian Cotton 4.50 0-2 14 14 9 7 6 Lukas Diehm 4.79 2-1 20.2 22 17 11 9 Nick Little 4.91 8-1 62.1 72 46 34 14 Cale Mathison 5.87 0-0 7.2 4 7 5 6 Zach Pinkerton 9.58 1-1 10.1 16 11 11 3 Totals 3.72 42-10 402 365 222 166 146 Opponents 8.84 10-42 391 584 466 384 208 Saves (12) — Buckallew 7, Lycan 2, Samuelson 2, Whittaker.

AVG. AB .394 193 .379 169 .368 171 .366 191 .354 113 .350 177 .335 158 .324 148 .290 145 .342 1714 .237 1549

R 65 47 27 42 26 54 14 40 28 466 222

BB 25 21 27 18 9 30 18 20 11 208 146 SO 7 96 18 19 27 20 17 47 79 35 18 31 68 9 11 513 366

SO 24 38 25 46 13 26 42 35 34 366 513 HR 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 6 3 0 3 6 1 1 27 90

OBP .466 .467 .471 .423 .411 .480 .410 .407 .356 .424 .317 AVG. .196 .154 .191 .233 .192 .188 .305 .250 .240 .188 .246 .262 .281 .154 .348 .236 .340

SLG .575 .663 .649 .707 .416 .684 .532 .554 .572 .577 .344 WHIP 1.050 0.792 1.169 1.000 0.951 1.000 1.432 1.671 1.241 1.414 1.429 1.500 1.380 1.304 1.839 1.271 2.026

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

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9 SEED

Pilots play better under hot lights Living on the edge: LSUS wins 8 elimination games to punch its ticket to Series

By MADISON GUERNSEY SPORTS STAFF

Brad Neffendorf says his team plays better when its season is on the line.

Its biggest chance to prove that theory right is at the Avista NAIA World Series.

Neffendorf and the Louisiana State Shreveport Pilots have won eight elimination games to earn their spot among the final 10 teams here.

They begin the ultimate high-stakes, double-elimination finale at 8:30 a.m. today against Keiser.

“This team has played a lot better with their backs against the wall,” said Neffendorf, the Pilots’ second-year coach.

No. 25 LSUS (4414), the ninth-seeded Neffendorf team, has a history of success that includes 13 conference tournament titles and 12 trips to the NAIA Opening Round. But the Pilots hadn’t been to Lewiston since 2012. The saga of their return to Harris Field included 13 Ray postponements and cancellations because of weather and COVID-19 protocols, a 14game winning streak, a two-game conference tournament championship series that was halted, relocated and concluded a day later than planned, and three wins in two days to stave off elimination and win the Williamsburg, Ky., Opening Round.

“We’ve truthfully had a lot of guys step up,” Neffendorf said. “We’ve

Shreveport second baseman Payton Robertson is an all-around player.

At the plate, he’s hitting .417 with 56 runs batted in. On the basepaths, he leads the NAIA in stolen bases with 44. And in the field, he’s earned AllRed River Athletic Conference Gold Glove honors.

LSU Shreveport

played really well this year when we’re in situations like this.”

After starting 12-11, the Pilots have ripped off 32 wins in their past 35 games. Eleven players earned All-Red River Athletic Conference accolades, led by repeat first-team selections Ryne Ray and Payton Robertson.

Robertson, who also was named to the league’s Gold Glove team at second base, leads the nation with 44 stolen bases. But he can hit too.

The senior arrives riding a 12-game hitting streak. For the season, he leads

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the team with a .417 average and 56 RBI, is tied for third on the team with seven home runs and has walked more times (38) than he’s struck out (20).

The Lamar University transfer has a strong baseball bloodline that includes multiple early-round draft picks, Neffendorf said.

“He’s very dynamic, he’s very versatile, he’s extremely athletic, he’s fearless, he plays the game the right way, he plays insanely hard,” Neffendorf said. “He’s always played at a high level and he’s not afraid to

just go.”

Kody Kolb also is hitting above .400 at .408, and Taylor Fajardo leads the Pilots in homers with 15.

Robertson, third baseman J.J. Flores, catcher Josh Wunnenberg and outfielder Carlos Pineyro earned RRAC Gold Glove team recognition.

LSUS ranks sixth in the country with a fielding percentage of .971.

Sebastian Selway leads the Pilots on the mound. The senior right-hander is 6-3 with a 3.36 ERA, 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings and holds batters

F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE to a .211 average. He won five consecutive decisions earlier this season and hasn’t had more walks than strikeouts in any outing this year.

Selway was a late addition to LSUS after spending the previous two seasons at San Francisco State, an NCAA Division II program.

“He came to us over winter break, so he didn’t have a fall with us. He didn’t have a fall, period,” Neffendorf said. “The first time

New addition Sebastian Selway bolstered the LSUS pitching staff with a 6-3 record.

Courtesy LSU

LSU SHR EV EP ORT STATS BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI Payton Robertson 80 16 5 7 56 Kody Kolb 53 17 1 4 45 Ryan Major 34 4 4 0 22 Julian Flores 53 9 2 7 38 Carlos Pineyro 64 10 4 5 45 Austin McNicholas 66 10 3 4 41 Taylor Fajardo 38 6 0 15 43 Josh Wunnenberg 48 10 3 7 29 Ryne Ray 49 12 0 9 42 Josiah Ortiz 25 7 0 1 17 Owen Napieralski 16 4 0 1 12 Miguel Morgan 31 7 1 6 26 Jaylund Johnson 15 3 1 2 14 Chase Spatafora 16 3 0 1 10 Jake Vesecky 7 2 0 2 6 Totals 610 123 24 71 458 Opponents 439 68 7 42 249 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB Trent Sholders 3.04 6-1 50.1 44 18 17 14 Josh Fortenberry 3.23 8-2 55.2 50 22 20 19 Sebastian Selway 3.36 6-3 69.2 53 28 26 29 Colton Sellers 3.46 0-0 13 11 7 5 4 Trey Rugg 3.55 0-1 12.2 14 6 5 12 Nathan Cachu 3.79 2-0 19 19 10 8 8 Alex Bookman 4.06 6-0 37.2 44 18 17 8 Luisdiego Quintana 5.12 4-3 51 44 31 29 31 Kevin Miranda 5.30 6-3 69.2 83 49 41 15 Hunter Cunningham 6.49 3-0 34.2 29 30 25 25 Ryan Sturgeon 7.01 0-0 25.2 29 25 20 10 Austin Tambellini 13.50 0-0 5.1 2 8 8 6 Totals 4.64 44-13 463.1 439 270 239 201 Opponents 9.01 13-44 442.1 610 513 443 315 Saves (4) — Quintana 2, Sholders, Fortenberry.

AVG. AB .417 192 .408 130 .395 86 .393 135 .379 169 .363 182 .345 110 .336 143 .312 157 .294 85 .286 56 .279 111 .268 56 .163 98 .135 52 .335 1820 .249 1761

R 64 39 24 47 49 46 38 18 40 23 10 28 20 33 4 513 270

BB 38 12 7 30 27 30 12 26 23 19 9 27 7 20 15 315 201 SO 30 63 86 11 8 6 21 70 70 32 30 7 458 360

SO 20 17 13 22 17 25 40 38 31 13 4 32 18 27 28 360 458 HR 4 2 4 1 0 1 4 3 8 4 5 1 42 71

he basically faced a live hitter was here in the middle of January.

“He really worked into being something extremely good for us.

Undersized right-hander that is electric when he wants to be.”

The Pilots’ first opponent is No. 17 Keiser, the eighth-seeded team from West Palm Beach, Fla. The teams have played once before, a 9-2 Keiser win that knocked LSUS out of the regional and ended its season in 2016.

> LSU Shreveport OBP .515 .477 .440 .536 .476 .473 .414 .440 .404 .455 .414 .426 .359 .344 .348 .448 .349 AVG. .237 .239 .211 .234 .286 .250 .297 .232 .286 .234 .282 .118 .249 .335

SLG .661 .646 .535 .644 .574 .516 .809 .594 .561 .412 .411 .523 .464 .224 .288 .546 .367 WHIP 1.152 1.240 1.177 1.154 2.053 1.421 1.381 1.471 1.407 1.558 1.519 1.500 1.381 2.091

5

Location: Shreveport, La. Nickname: Pilots Coach: Brad Neffendorf (second season) Season record: 44-14 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 25 How qualified: Won Williamsburg Bracket Number of appearances; best finish: fourth, third in 2012

> Juice (out of five stars) STARTERS:  Selway anchors the rotation with his 3.36 ERA, .211 opponent batting average and more than 11 strikeouts per nine innings.

Beyond him, the Pilots’ starters have been inconsistent. Luisdiego Quintana (4-3, 5.12 ERA) earned second-team all-conference honors.

RELIEVERS:  Josh Fortenberry (8-2, 3.23 ERA, 55 2/3 innings) was a second-team all-league honoree after leading LSUS with 19 relief appearances.

He joins Trent Sholders (50.1 innings) and Alex Bookman (37.2 innings) as LSUS’ go-to relievers.

FIELDING:  The Pilots rank sixth among NAIA Division I teams with a fielding percentage of .971. Four players made the Red River Athletic Conference’s Gold Glove Team, and three others have more than 100 chances and a fielding percentage of .990 or better.

HITTING: ½ A team batting average of .335 and on-base percentage of .448 highlight the Pilots’ prolific attack. Robertson and Kolb each are hitting above .400 and, as a team, LSUS has drawn 315 walks against 360 strikeouts.

SPEED:  Robertson leads the country with 44 stolen bases (in 51 tries), Chase Spatafora is 24-for-31 and six other players have swiped 10 or more bags.

INTANGIBLES:  The Pilots weathered several early-season postponements and cancellations during a 12-11 start, but have won 32 of their past 35 games, including eight elimination games in the RRAC tournament and Opening Round.

WELCOME To the 2021 Avista NAIA World Series

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But these Pilots haven’t been fazed by those situations. And Neffendorf, who was an assistant at Tennessee Wesleyan when the Bulldogs won the 2019 Series, knows what to expect at this tournament.

“Since August, it’s what you prepared for,” Neffendorf said.

“And now you’ve done the work to get there. We have to stick to routine. The thing about postseason is, anything can happen.”

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

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8 SEED

Keiser riding emotional high after tragedy Teammate’s murder in offseason unifies Seahawks, and now they’re beginning to jell at the right time

By MADISON GUERNSEY SPORTS STAFF

Many teams have an exterior source of motivation or rally cry, but the bond within the Keiser University baseball program might be stronger than anyone’s.

The Seahawks have leaned on that brotherhood all season long and will continue to do so at the Avista NAIA World Series.

“For all the things we went through this season and to get here, the emotions are unbelievable,” fourth-year coach Brook Fordyce said. “With overcoming so many obstacles, playing baseball … it’s just amazing to see with the kids; the energy, the belief in them(selves) and the belief in wore No. 7, on the left their teammates has side of their caps. been unbelievable.”

The uniting adKeiser was shakversity helped Keisen by tragedy in Deer (36-16) win the cember.

Teammate New Orleans BrackDerek Becker, who et and qualify for its transferred to the second-ever Series. school during the offThe 17th-ranked and season, was murdered eighth-seeded Seain his apartment. The hawks, of West Palm 21-year-old likely Fordyce Beach, Fla., open the would have started at Series at 8:30 a.m. second base for the Seahawks. today against No. 25 LSU Instead, this season is being Shreveport, seeded ninth. played in his memory. Keis“We bonded as a team now, er’s players and coaches wear which is the most important a patch to honor Becker, who time,” Fordyce said.

Third baseman Tim Bouchard is hitting .403 with 16 home runs and 67 runs batted in. He comes into the Series with a five-game hitting streak and has not gone hitless in a game since Feb. 2.

Courtesy of Keiser University

Keiser brings a solid allaround team here — the Seahawks rank 10th in runs per game, 16th in fielding percentage and 16th in ERA. Five players were named first-team all-conference, one earned second-team honors and Pablo Arevalo was tabbed The Sun Conference’s pitcher of the year.

If the individual award isn’t reason enough to watch Arevalo on the mound at Harris Field, his stats are. The senior right-hander is 9-3 with a 1.38 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and has allowed just seven walks in

117 innings. Yes, seven.

Arevalo has gone the distance nine times this season and enters the World Series with a streak of 30 consecutive scoreless innings.

In his last start, an 8-0 win against Oklahoma City in New Orleans, Arevalo tossed his third complete game in a row.

He struck out 14 and walked none.

“He’s no short of being named Pedro Martinez, right now, of NAIA baseball,” Fordyce said. “That’s how dominant he has been.”

Fordyce, a former big-

league catcher who spent the majority of his 10-year MLB career with the Baltimore Orioles, compared Arevalo to one of his former Hall of Fame batterymates.

“He’s a lot like Mike Mussina,” Fordyce said. “He knows what the hitter’s doing or trying to do off him. He counteracts with several different pitches.

“There’s very few people in the big leagues that have a three-pitch mix. … This kid has a change-up, has a fastball, has a cutter, has a slider, has a sink. He’s Pedro. He

Few details in murder of Keiser player

Steve Mitchell/Palm Beach Post

Keiser’s Joe Harvill wears his cap with the decal to honor former teammate Derek Becker who was shot and killed just north of the school’s campus on Dec. 20.

This story was printed in the Palm was a student there. The university’s Beach Post on Dec. 21. athletic department website lists Beck——— er as an infielder on the baseball team WEST PALM BEACH — A 21-yearand said he hails from Cohoes, N.Y., a old Keiser University student-athlete city about 10 miles north of Albany. died in a West Palm Beach apartment The Albany-Times Union reported on Dec. 20 from an apparent gunshot that Becker was a standout baseball wound, city police said Monday. player at Cohoes High School who Derek R. Becker was found inplayed at Iona College in New Rochelle, side his apartment on the 4200 block N.Y., before transferring to Keiser.

Becker of Community Drive shortly before Keiser baseball coach Brook 12:30 a.m. Sunday, north of the KeisFordyce said in a statement that Becker campus. He was pronounced dead at the er was not only a standout athlete but also scene. The cause of death appeared to be gun- “an exceptional friend and associate to those fire, police said. whose lives he touched.”

Police are investigating Becker’s death as Becker appeared in 11 games for the Seaa homicide. They did not release any details hawks in 2020, making nine starts before the regarding the circumstances of what led to the remainder of the season was canceled because incident. of the coronavirus pandemic, according to his A Keiser spokeswoman confirmed Becker biography on the athletic department website.

F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

K EIS ER STATS BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI Tim Bouchard 79 16 3 16 67 Mathew Catalfo 81 16 4 7 62 Ben McConnell 80 11 4 6 40 Niko Petrides 60 12 4 0 25 Mason Dinesen 72 15 1 10 53 Xavier Acosta 18 3 1 1 16 Erik Owen 53 8 1 4 44 Kemper Bednar 43 7 0 4 26 Nick LaBrasca 20 4 0 6 23 Zach Mazur 43 9 2 14 53 Jacob Charron 9 2 0 1 5 Totals 570 105 20 70 423 Opponents 436 69 11 40 207 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB Pablo Arevalo 1.38 9-3 117.1 91 28 18 7 James Reynolds 3.65 7-3 61.2 68 33 25 14 Cole Shinsky 3.83 2-2 40 42 27 17 19 Victor Gotay 4.32 0-1 16.2 11 9 8 12 Parker Grahe 5.16 1-2 22.2 21 14 13 6 Deykel Reyes 5.37 8-1 60.1 68 41 36 19 Andrew Mitchell 5.40 7-2 55 66 36 33 18 Brad Skinner 5.65 0-0 14.1 17 9 9 7 Danny Galvan 5.83 2-2 29.1 41 29 19 8 Totals 3.88 36-16 424 436 238 183 118 Opponents 8.49 16-36 415.1 570 471 392 261 Saves (8) — Skinner 4, Gotay 2, Grahe, Reyes.

AVG. AB .403 196 .389 208 .356 225 .337 178 .330 218 .300 60 .298 178 .291 148 .274 73 .253 170 .122 74 .318 1792 .263 1659

R 63 40 70 45 67 18 45 40 19 18 13 471 238

can make the ball do amazing things in the strike zone.”

Keiser’s offense is led by Tim Bouchard. The firstteam all-league third baseman is hitting .403 with 16 home runs, 67 RBI and has more walks (44) than strikeouts (34). He enters the World Series on a five-game hitting streak and hasn’t gone hitless in consecutive games since Jan. 30 and Feb. 2.

The Seahawks’ only other trip to the World Series came in 2017. They lost their first-

> Keiser BB 44 19 30 29 20 11 32 25 11 20 12 261 118 SO 114 57 41 25 20 72 42 19 29 428 403

SO 34 42 31 31 52 16 22 34 25 56 39 403 428 HR 7 1 3 2 4 10 7 1 4 40 70

OBP .515 .449 .436 .435 .400 .462 .423 .445 .404 .347 .290 .419 .325 AVG. .209 .282 .275 .183 .247 .274 .297 .298 .325 .263 .318

Location: West Palm Beach, Fla. Nickname: Seahawks Coach: Brook Fordyce (fourth season) Season record: 36-16 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 17 How qualified: Won New Orleans Bracket Number of appearances; best finish: second; 1-2 in 2017.

SLG .760 .606 .520 .449 .546 .433 .421 .419 .575 .576 .189 .516 .390

> Juice (out of five stars)

WHIP 0.835 1.330 1.525 1.380 1.191 1.442 1.527 1.674 1.670 1.307 2.001

round game to the eventual champion, Lewis-Clark State, and finished the tournament with one win in three games.

There’s more than a title on the line this time around.

“This is all about enjoyment and bonding as a team,” Fordyce said. “It isn’t about stats, it isn’t about, ‘Am I going to be all-conference?’

This isn’t about anything other than having one more run than the next team and having the machine work together.”

STARTERS: «««« Three of Keiser’s starters have a sub4.00 ERA, led by Arevalo (1.38). He, James Reynolds (3.65) and Cole Shinsky (3.83) anchor the staff, which ranks 16th in NAIA Division I with a 3.91 ERA. RELIEVERS: «« Brad Skinner ranks in the top 50 with four saves, and Victor Gotay holds hitters to a .183 average, but the Seahawks’ bullpen is rife with high numbers in the WHIP and ERA columns.

FIELDING: «««« Keiser University

Pablo Arevalo, a senior from Miami, is 9-3 this sea son with a 1.38 ERA and 114 strikeouts.

The Seahawks rank 16th with a fielding percentage of .965. Niko Petrides has committed one error in 395

7 chances, and catchers Zach Mazur and Jacob Charron have gunned down 28.3 percent of would-be base stealers.

HITTING: ««««½ Keiser uses a balanced lineup to rank 10th with 9.1 runs per game. Bouchard leads the way with a .403 average and 16 home runs, but the Seahawks also have two other players with double-digit homers this year.

SPEED: «««½ Ben McConnell has swiped 29 bags in 31 tries and Mathew Catalfo is 17-for17. Only one other player has more than seven steals this season.

INTANGIBLES: ««« Keiser plays in a competitive league, the Sun Conference, which boasts three teams ranked in the final coaches’ top 25 poll. But the Seahawks are just 5-7 against ranked opponents this year. Additionally, Keiser dominated at home, going 20-2, but is 16-14 on the road and at neutral sites.

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

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F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

7 SEED

While green, IU Southeast certainly is battle tested Grenadiers knocked out defending champs en route to Series

By TROY WARZOCHA FOR THE TRIBUNE

On paper and on the diamond, the Grenadiers of Indiana University Southeast will arrive here as another in a long line of first-timers that have made the trek to the Avista NAIA World Series.

But don’t let the Grenadiers’ lack of Series experience fool you — IU Southeast might well be one of the most battletested teams in the field after toppling defending champion and top-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan in the Opening Round to book its ticket.

Tagged with the No. 7 seed in the tournament, IU Southeast will open against No. 10 seed Concordia (Neb.) at 3 p.m. today at Harris Field.

Ranked No. 15 in the NAIA’s final top 25 coaches’ poll May 12, the Grenadiers not only beat Tennessee Wesleyan, but coach Ben Reel did so by besting one of his close friends, TWC coach Billy Berry.

“I think that’s what made (reaching the Series) so memorable, was Billy,” Reel said of his close friend. “When I came out to home plate, Billy hugged me for probably five minutes. Watching Billy as a young coach, he helped bring my vision to fruition.

“Billy’s always been a mentor to me. He made it ex-

> IU Southeast Location: New Albany, Ind. Nickname: Grenadiers Coach: Ben Reel (12th season) Season record: 48-14 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 15 How qualified: Won Kingsport (Tenn.) Bracket Number of appearances: This is the school’s first.

> Juice (out of five stars)

Courtesy IU Southeast

Junior catcher Brody Tanksley is the Grenadiers’ masher, having clubbed 18 home runs and driven in 69 runs. tremely special from the last pitch on. He’s called me multiple times and told me I got to get this lined up, got to get my vans, get practice times lined up. I think Woody Hunt (Cumberland, Tenn., coach) said it best, ‘Once you come around the mountain and see Lewiston, you’ll have goosebumps until the time you

IU SOUTHEA ST STATS Matt Monahan Drew Hensley Clay Woeste Marco Romero Daunte Decello John Ullom Brody Tanksley Jacob Scott Derek Wagner Ben Berenda Tyler Mills Ethan Shafer Totals Opponents

Trevor Reynolds Hunter Kloke Payton Bledsoe Conner Fries Cade Reynolds Gavin Knust Jacob Morley Jacob Frankel Drew Hensley Brenden Bube Lane Oesterling Connor Kelly Jared Jones Totals Opponents Saves (13)

BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO 83 14 4 14 55 19 29 35 8 0 0 15 7 12 85 18 3 7 50 25 36 74 14 1 6 55 54 21 53 17 0 1 29 6 20 65 11 10 5 42 16 34 78 15 0 18 69 42 38 68 13 2 5 53 24 35 27 4 0 4 25 16 13 43 9 0 0 32 35 33 18 3 1 0 4 16 29 7 1 0 0 8 9 18 668 137 23 62 479 296 361 531 93 17 52 291 166 427 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB SO HR 2.81 9-1 57.2 59 23 18 9 44 4 3.01 9-1 68.2 70 31 23 20 65 4 3.14 2-0 14.1 13 7 5 8 12 0 3.33 0-0 24.1 23 12 9 10 15 2 3.45 5-2 62.2 74 37 24 23 46 5 3.64 1-0 29.2 26 14 12 10 30 3 3.86 0-0 7 9 8 3 2 8 0 4.37 1-1 22.2 24 12 11 7 30 2 5.21 8-3 57 55 38 33 23 58 6 5.60 4-3 45 47 29 28 16 31 5 5.88 5-1 49 63 36 32 12 26 3 8.10 0-0 13.1 19 14 12 6 10 2 8.33 2-2 35.2 44 35 33 6 39 12 4.81 48-14 494 533 316 264 166 420 52 9.10 14-48 472 659 526 477 296 361 59 — Frankel 4, Bube 3, Oesterling 2, Reynolds, Bledsoe, Hensley, Jones.

AVG. AB .428 194 .402 87 .371 229 .370 200 .366 145 .361 180 .355 220 .316 215 .314 86 .247 174 .212 85 .130 54 .332 2012 .272 1953

R 58 18 83 62 26 60 39 36 15 20 23 9 526 316

OBP .482 .458 .466 .515 .404 .432 .473 .386 .419 .381 .356 .294 .434 .344 AVG. .289 .254 .241 .247 .315 .226 .310 .264 .244 .273 .323 .345 .306 .273 .344

SLG .768 .494 .568 .540 .503 .617 .668 .465 .500 .299 .271 .148 .515 .417 WHIP 1.179 1.311 1.465 1.356 1.548 1.213 1.571 1.368 1.368 1.400 1.530 1.875 1.402 1.415 2.023

“Our program only leave. It’s been like has one scholarship,” that every time I’ve Reel said. “But I been there.’ ” think from the getTwo years removed go our guys are just from its second Series made up differently. title, and deemed the We’re not paying for defending champion anyone’s way. after the cancella“Here, it’s pretty tion of the 2020 Semuch that guys want ries because of the Reel to be here. Guys are pandemic, Tennessee signing up for this beWesleyan entered the cause they want to do Opening Round with a it. It’s not like they’re 51-4 record and were missing out on a full the odds-on favorite ride if they decide to to return to Lewiston. walk away.”

However, two losses On the field, the later, it was instead Grenadiers boast one the Grenadiers (48of the more potent 14) who avenged a offenses in the Series lopsided three-game Tanksley field and showed that sweep at the hands of the Bulldogs in February in the Opening Round — putand earned their first bite of ting up 30 runs in their three wins.

Harris Field.

IU Southeast is ranked Speaking of hands, it’s hard to find a more capable fourth in the nation in doupair that understands the bles and total hits and seventh significance of IU Southeast in total runs scored and RBI. reaching the Series as much Despite averaging only one as Reel. Now in his 13th year home run per game throughleading the Grenadiers, it’s out the season, the Grenadiers only fitting that the former have shown they can string IU Southeast team captain hits together, ranking second and first-team All-Conference in the country in total at-bats.

Leading the way are juniors selection would be the one leading his alma mater to its Brody Tanksley and Clay greatest achievement in pro- Woeste.

During the course of the gram history.

STARTERS:  Starters Kloke, Cade Reynolds and Drew Hensley might not be household names, but they are capable of limiting damage and getting the ball to the bullpen.

RELIEVERS:  With 57 innings pitched and only three starts this season, Reynolds usually is the first man up in the bullpen. After him, things could get a little dicey if the Grenadier offense stalls.

FIELDING: ½ The Grenadiers rank 16th in fielding percentage in the nation. They’ll make the routine plays and might sprinkle in something exceptional along the way.

HITTING: ½ The Grenadiers aren’t going to win any home run derbies, but they will put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense — things that can carry a team a long way in the Series.

SPEED:  Led by Woeste, the Grenadiers are not afraid to run regardless of the situation. Expect them to run early and run often.

INTANGIBLES: ½ It’s not common that a Series newbie has the intangibles to go all the way — but it’s hard to argue against a team that beat the No. 1 ranked team and defending champions twice in the Opening Round.

F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

9

Courtesy IU Southeast

Southpaw starter Hunter Cloke has compiled a 9-1 record with a 2.81 ERA this season. season, Tanksley provided the Those each rank sixth in the pop with a team-leading 18 NAIA while the junior sechome runs and 69 RBI — with ond baseman scored 83 times, one of those homers coming in good for second in the country. walk-off fashion as the GrenaOn the hill, the Grenadiers diers turned a 6-0 deficit into are led by a pair of junior lefta 10-9 win against Warner handers in Hunter Kloke and University (Fla.) in the first Trevor Reynolds. game of the Opening Round.

Each went 9-1 on the seaWhile not as loud as Tanksson and combined to allow Woest ley and his booming contribuonly three runs and six hits to tions, Woeste is a terror for deTennessee Wesleyan in a 4-3 fenses on the basepaths — leading the win against the Bulldogs in the second team with 85 hits and 35 stolen bases. game of the Opening Round.

Shutout drought goes back to 2016 > SERIES NOTEBOOK There has not been a shutout in the NAIA World Series since 2016. The streak has reached 63 games, from game No. 12 in 2016, through three straight Series, and is the longest in history.

In fact, before the current streak, the record for most games played between shutouts was 33, between 1997 and 1999.

The teams involved in the last shutout open the 2021 Series against each other. On May 30, 2016, Faulkner and Lewis-Clark State

were in a scoreless tie going into the bottom of the ninth. When Faulkner starting pitcher Ivan Pelaez was removed with one out and two men on base, LCSC coach Jeremiah Robbins countered with pinch hitter Dylan Tashjian. Tashjian, who had a pinch-hit, walk-off single in the Warriors previous game, slammed the first pitch he saw out of the park for a 3-0 LCSC win.

There has not been a pinch hit home run or shutout in the Series since.

— Denny Grubb

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F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

6 SEED

While things change, Eagles remain constant Relying on its pitching, Faulkner makes its 8th consecutive World Series appearance

By TROY WARZOCHA FOR THE TRIBUNE

As the fans trickle back to Harris Field to take part in the first Avista NAIA World Series since 2019, there’s no doubt the post-pandemic Series experience will feel and sound different than years past.

While certain things about the Series might feel different, the Eagles of Faulkner University won’t be one of them.

A familiar face here for almost a decade now, Faulkner (Ala.) will be making its eighth consecutive appearance in the Series — and will be looking for a second title since bagging its first with a perfect tournament run in 2013.

“It’s unique to times and are 2-7 each team and each against the Warriors team has its own — with one of those personality,” Faulkner wins coming in the coach Patrick 2013 title clincher.

McCarthy said. “We Although the just try to tell them stakes won’t be as to be loose and be high in this earlythemselves and try to round matchup, the experience everything result no doubt will that’s out there.”

McCarthy go a long way as the However, standing in Faulkner’s way winner will get two when the Series opens today days off before resuming will be another longtime foe in play Monday, while the loser tournament host Lewis-Clark will have around a 12-hour State. First pitch is scheduled turnaround to prepare for a for 7 p.m. loser-out matchup Saturday.

During the eight-year “It’s an atmosphere you streak of World Series can’t prepare for,” McCarthy appearances, the Eagles (38- said. “So, you just try to keep 10) have faced LCSC nine your routine. Keep the bat-

FAUL K NER STATS BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI 50 10 1 9 48 60 10 5 3 51 65 11 2 6 52 49 5 1 4 28 66 13 1 4 38 46 9 2 7 45 59 12 3 6 40 51 9 0 13 39 41 6 1 2 35 15 4 1 2 13 528 96 17 59 418 333 60 7 39 196 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB Anotnio Frias 2.22 11-0 81 41 23 20 29 July Sosa 3.71 7-2 70.1 60 37 29 15 Tyberius Correa 4.30 3-2 44 44 27 21 8 Stafford Quinnelly 4.94 3-1 31 29 20 17 11 J.C. Toro 4.98 7-2 81.1 73 48 45 26 Aaron Hammer 5.23 0-0 10.1 9 9 16 10 Mike Battle 6.11 4-3 17.2 21 13 12 7 Ford Hilyer 7.67 3-0 27 27 24 23 23 Tyler Paulsen 8.25 0-0 12 18 11 11 11 Totals 4.61 38-10 381 333 225 195 151 Opponents 10.10 10-38 362.2 526 453 407 281 Saves (7) — Quinnelly 5, Sosa, Toro.

AVG. AB Justice Lucas .407 123 Isaac Phillips .364 165 Alex Arauz .361 180 Justin Lara .360 136 Sam Anthony .359 184 J-M Mathews .357 129 Jonathan Villa .333 177 Shawn Ross .311 164 Tommy Reyes-Cruz .277 148 Bo Seccombe .268 56 Totals .338 1560 Opponents .231 1440

R 36 48 48 35 53 42 12 55 36 7 453 225

Faulkner fireballer Antonio Frias hails from Panama. He sports an 11-0 record with a 2.22 ERA. He leads the NAIA in limiting opposing hitters to a .149 average.

Faulkner University

ting practice the same. Keep the routine the same and allow them to have some sort of comfort level.

“I think that minimizes mistakes. And for sure, we’ve had plenty of mistakes out there. You won’t really know until about the second game — whether you’re settling in or not, because you could be out in two games and never even know. You can be gone in less time than it took to travel out there.”

With so much of their tournament trajectory potentially riding on that first game, it certainly will help the Eagles to be able to trot out perhaps one of the best pitchers in the

NAIA this season.

Throughout the regular season and the Opening Round, senior Antonio Frias was unbeaten at 11-0, held opponents to a NAIA-low .149 batting average and is the first Faulkner pitcher in program history to tally 200plus strikeouts in a career.

Of his career 281 punchouts, the fireballer from Panama City, Panama, tallied 119 this season while walking only 29 with a 2.22 ERA in 81 innings.

In his lone start in the Opening Round against Vanguard (Calif.), Frias went the distance, spreading three runs and six hits in a 7-3 win for the Eagles. A true

> Faulkner BB 24 27 27 22 21 35 28 38 31 11 281 151 SO 119 90 38 25 74 11 15 27 13 418 349

SO 22 19 42 34 33 29 28 53 26 22 349 418 HR 6 8 4 3 7 0 3 5 1 39 59

OBP .519 .462 .450 .448 .426 .503 .428 .447 .405 .423 .447 .328 AVG. .149 .225 .247 .240 .240 .243 .300 .257 .340 .231 .337

SLG .724 .539 .544 .500 .505 .620 .537 .604 .372 .482 .535 .364 WHIP 0.864 1.066 1.181 1.290 1.217 1.839 1.585 1.852 2.417 1.270 2.225

Location: Montgomery, Ala. Nickname: Eagles Coach: Patrick McCarthy (12th season) Season record: 38-10 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 11 How qualified: Won Montgomery Bracket.

Number of appearances; best finish: nine, NAIA champions in 2013

> Juice (out of five stars) STARTERS: ½ Frias is the real deal — racking up 119 strikeouts in 81 innings this season. How far the Eagles go might depend on Sosa and Toro behind him.

RELIEVERS:  The starters tend to give the Eagles a lot of length — making the bullpen an obvious point of

workhorse, he also closed out a 4-3 win with two scoreless innings against St. Thomas (Fla.) the previous day.

Behind Frias in the rotation pecking order are July Sosa and J.C. Toro. While not as electric as Frias, the capable pair combined to go 14-4 and rack up 164 strikeouts on the season.

At the plate, the Eagles don’t have one singular preeminent threat, but their lineup is littered with guys that can do it all. Of Faulkner’s nine regulars, eight knocked in at least 35 runs this season — making this lineup perhaps one of the deepest in the tournament.

attack for most of Faulkner’s opponents.

FIELDING: ½ Middle of the road defensively, the Eagles are steady in the field and fundamentally sound.

HITTING: ½ There isn’t one guy who is going to carry all of the water for the offense — whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is yet to be determined.

If nothing else, this group has serious depth.

SPEED:  The Eagles are ranked eighth in the nation in stolen bases per game and 10th in total stolen bases. If given the chance, they’ll take the extra bag.

INTANGIBLES:  Faulkner has been a very good program for a long time. The Eagles might not be one of the favorites this time around, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know how to make a title charge.

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5 SEED

The day that changed the Grizzlies’ fate A midseason beatdown by Tennessee Wesleyan drove Georgia Gwinnett to work harder to earn shot at Series title

By THEO LAWSON FOR THE TRIBUNE

Courtesy of Georgia Gwinnett

Senior utility player Griffin Keller is the only player in NAIA baseball with 101 hits on the season and he enters the championship round leading all Series players in batting average (.472) and hits per game (1.77). Although he might not see a ball clear the fence at Harris Field, Keller’s 25 doubles rank second in the country and he has 29 extra-base hits on the year.

> Georgia Gwinnett Location: Lawrenceville, Ga. Nickname: Grizzlies Coach: Jeremy Sheetinger (second season) Season record: 46-10 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 6 How qualified: Won Santa Barbara Bracket Number of appearances; best finish: fourth, third in 2018

> Juice (out of five stars) STARTERS:  Dollander is one of just 20 NAIA pitchers with at least 10 wins to his name and

Kyle brings a spotless 8-0 record to the Series, meaning Georgia Gwinnett possesses a one-two punch that should rival any in Lewiston.

RELIEVERS: ½ With five saves, two wins and no losses in his 13 appearances, Caudelle has proven to be an effective closer when his name’s been called.

He’s allowed just seven hits with 30 strikeouts and only one extra-base hit.

FIELDING:  While seven of the 10 teams competing

It probably was a nondescript, uneventful Wednesday for almost everyone else in the NAIA. For Georgia Gwinnett, April 14 was when everything changed.

The day before, the ninth-ranked Grizzlies were owners of an impressive 28-9 record entering a highly-anticipated matchup with top-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan. Winning the game, or losing in a tightly contested game, would cement Georgia Gwinnett’s standing as a top-10 NAIA baseball team.

The Grizzlies did neither.

After allowing three runs in the first inning, four in the third and three more in the fourth, Gwinnett surrendered a whopping nine in the sixth inning to lose 19-0.

The next day, players got a sense for what type of practice awaited them when second-year coach Jeremy Sheetinger suggested to leave gloves and bats in the locker room. Those wouldn’t be necessary.

“We got in better shape that day,” Sheetinger laughed.

Gwinnett faces Oklahoma Wesleyan (49-9) in the first round at 11:30 a.m. today.

Expanding on the day that set a tone for the

in the national tournament rank inside the top 20 in fielding percentage — including three inside the top 10 — the Grizzlies aren’t as good in that category, ranking No. 72. They also commit 1.5 errors per game.

HITTING: ½ Just three times in their past 18 games have the Grizzlies failed to reach double digits in the run column. They own a stellar team batting average of .370 and have the tournament’s most consistent individual hitter in Keller, who hits .472.

> See GRIZZLIES, Page 14 SPEED:  Aggression is the name of the game for Gwinnett when it comes to the base paths. The Grizzlies are at the top of the leaderboard when it comes to NAIA stolen bases (195), thanks in large part to Smith, who’s successfully swiped 38 of 43 bases this year.

INTANGIBLES:  Even with a coach who’s never been there, Gwinnett has a proud history here and not unlike most teams participating this week, the Grizzlies are red-hot having won 17 of their past 18 games.

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F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

TURNS OUT, THE GRASS IS

GREENER AT THE HOMETOWN

BALLPARK LCSC roster includes 5 former Lewiston High School classmates and American Legion teammates all drawn to the club because of the ‘Warrior Way’

By COLTON CLARK | SPORTS STAFF t’s nothing unique for Lewis-Clark State’s roster to feature a few hometown kids.

Since the program raised its first NAIA baseball championship banner in 1984, there’s been at least one Lewiston High School graduate on every LCSC title team except the most recent two — in 2016 and ’17. In some dominant sea-

I

sons, especially in the late-1980s, several LHS products captained the Warriors.

Factor in the pre-dynasty and non-champion clubs too, and there’s a whole lot of purple and gold in LCSC’s history, so much that it’s far too time-consuming to calculate.

But today’s Warriors can claim something out of the ordinary: five former Bengals,

Pete Caster/Tribune

Junior shortstop Riley Way has been a mainstay at the position for the past three full seasons and has compiled a .384 average with a .492 on-base percentage in 2021. His smooth play-making ability in the field has helped the Warriors turn 38 double plays.

Luke White, left, Alex Light, left center, Jackson Fuller, center, Riley Way, right center, and Jayden hillips sit in the stands on the first-base blea hers on onday at arris ield in e iston. ll fi e Warriors graduated from Lewiston High School. (Photo by Pete Caster of the Tribune)

13

all of whom were classmates at LHS. Light was a two-sport athlete — football and baseball — at the College of the According to longtime LCSC/NAIA Siskiyous (Calif.). He’d committed to play statistician Denny Grubb, that’s a rarreceiver/kick returner at a Division II ity. There doesn’t appear to be another school in North Carolina, but the definWarrior group between 1984-2020 — at ing moment of his sports career came in least — that’s included five or more 2019, when he returned here to watch his LHS graduates of the same age. amigos in the Avista NAIA World Series.

“It’s pretty amazing that we all ended “I was gonna take off, then I ran into up here,” said Jaden Phillips, a reserve Balmer and he said, ‘Are you ready to come outfielder. “I can’t remember there being back and win a national championship so many local kids playing at L-C.” with your best friends?’” Light recalled.

The 2017 Lewiston grads on this LCSC “I absolutely made the right decision. roster are star shortstop Riley Way, ... We’d grown up hearing all these crazy slugging designated hitter Luke White, stories from Montie. When you get older pinch-runner/outfielder Alex Light, backand realize how it works, it’s wild. We’ve up catcher Jackson Fuller and Phillips. got something special right here in the Third-year Warrior coach Jake Taybackyard. It makes coming back special.” lor takes pride in the local flavor.

It all began in elementary school, in “It’d be fantastic if we can consistentyouth league travel trips and tourneys. Latly have Lewiston and Idaho players in er on, the five helped LHS to runner-up and our program,” he said. “It’s a neat vibe third-place finishes in the when the general pubIdaho Class 5A state tourlic has some history with nament, and in 2017, guided the players who grew up the Twins to the Legion here in Little League, World Series in Shelby, N.C. high school and Legion.

The L-C Twins won the “And some of them “I’ve known these Idaho state final in Twin even went their separate guys since I was 8 Falls and claimed a reways, then came back.” gional in Montana before Naturally, they’d all been years old.

We were bowing out in the national drawn to Harris Field in always hanging tournament. That summer their younger days. Chasing of accomplishment, travel down deep Beau Mills home out, like, ‘That’s and camaraderie-boostruns and watching multigonna be us one ing still ranks high among ple Series-ending dogpiles their most cherished remain bright memories. day in Warrior memories together.

But just Way, Phillips “It’s just been so fun uniforms.’ I didn’t and Fuller committed to to continue playing with LCSC in high school. know if we’d ever those guys I grew up with,” For Way, playing for White said. “Finding out the L-C Valley’s team was all play together Alex was coming back a clear-cut objective. The again. For them to too, it was like, ‘Wow, this “Warrior way” ethos — pridis really happening.’ ” ed on work ethic — grabbed move back here, it’s It was fortuitous that his attention early, and the really surreal.” all the former Bengals/ dynamic playmaker has Twins wound up here. fit in seamlessly, starting “I’ve known these guys since his freshman season.

JACKSON FULLER since I was 8 years old,” “I always looked up to Fuller added. “We were LCSC and how they played always hanging out, like, the game, the reputation ‘That’s gonna be us one they had,” he said. “It was day in Warrior uniforms.’ special to watch the Series, I didn’t know if we’d how they’d grind through it.

I stuck with them throughout high school.” ever all play together again. For them to move back here, it’s really surreal.”

Fuller and Phillips rushed onto Harris It’d be a major oversight to leave Field to join the championship celebraunmentioned the Clarkston Bantam. tion in 2007. They can be seen posing Veteran second baseman A.J. Davis, with the team in the post-title photo. a fourth-year starter alongside Way “I always watched them. It was in the middle infield, graduated from all I really knew,” Phillips said.

CHS in 2017. He and the five Bengals Phillips, the son of 1980s LCSC standout Montie Phillips, jumped at the opportunity were teammates for the L-C Twins.

Valley kids, being familiar with when he was offered by assistant coach the culture and demands of this Allen Balmer, also a Lewistonian, past program, have always been key in LCSC star and, for a time, the coach of the Lewis-Clark Twins American Legion team. helping the non-locals settle in.

“They know what L-C’s Fuller, like Phillips, had considered about,” Davis said. the junior-college route, but didn’t blink And in the history of the Warriors’ when the chance to suit up in navy came powerhouse program, valley kids ofup. His parents had attended the school, ten have emerged as NAIA superstars. and his baseball upbringing consisted Some of LCSC’s most talented and celof youth lessons from LCSC coaches. ebrated figures grew up a couple of “Meeting the players and coaches made blocks down the road from the school. me realize this is something I want to do,” Now, this set of valley kids Fuller said. “It was a dream come true.” seeks to aid the Warriors’ reWhite and Light were added to the fold turn to national prominence. ahead of the 2020 campaign. White honed “It’s an honor to play with these guys his skills at Yakima Valley College for again,” Way said. “We’re gonna go try two seasons before Balmer reached out. to make the best of it this weekend.”

Now he’s a regular in the lineup and a steady long-ball threat.

Clark may be contacted at cclark@lmtribune.com, “Coming back here was the ulon Twitter @ClarkTrib or by phone at (208) 627-3209. timate goal,” he said.

14

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

nity to see another timely surge through this time around.

“We didn’t think we had another loss on our schedule (in 2020) and I felt like we had the makings of a team that > Continued from PAGE 11 had a chance to win its last remainder of the regular game and to get that taken season, he said “the away,” Sheetinger said. “This Wednesday after is where we time was different. They had found our identity. Let’s just a lot more adversity, we had say we had a practice to find our identity where we didn’t touch halfway through our gloves or baseballs. season. We had to find But it was one that our toughness.” was much needed, it Trying to schedule was one that we were with COVID-19 in able to challenge our mind, the Grizzlies guys. The time is left the state of Geornow. It was a way for gia just twice in their players to challenge first 51 games. When Sheetinger each other. We found they did, it was for who our leaders games in neighboring we were going to be. From states such as Tennessee and that point after, everything South Carolina. Then, Georchanged. … We’ve been riding gia Gwinnett, which historithat wave ever since.” cally had hosted an Opening The Grizzlies dropped to Round event in Lawrencev29-9 after that loss. They now ille, was shipped to the other enter the program’s fourth — side of the country to play in and Sheetinger’s first — Avista the Santa Barbara Bracket.

NAIA World Series with a reIt was a good test for two cord of 46-10 having won 17 of reasons. If the Grizzlies were their past 18 games, averaging to advance to the World Se13.3 runs during that stretch. ries, they might as well get In 2020, Georgia Gwin- comfortable spending a week nett pieced together a similar on the West Coast. It also alstreak, winning 22 in a row be- lowed them to adjust to the fore the season was shuttered double-elimination style

by COVID-19. Fortunately, the bracket they’ll face here.

Grizzlies will have an opportu- Georgia Gwinnett already

GRIZZLIES

knows what it’s like to play back against the wall, losing in the Opening Round to Hope International — the same team the Grizzlies later would beat twice to punch their Series ticket.

“I’m telling you, it was the very best thing that could happen to this team,” Sheetinger said. “It was an absolute blessing that they moved us out there. Flying across the country, adjusting to Pacific time and being in a completely different environment and atmosphere and all those things.”

As for Georgia Gwinnett’s identity on the diamond? If the Grizzlies aren’t the best offensive team here this week — a title they might be deserving of, boasting the top team batting average among Series qualifiers — they might have the tournament’s best individual hitter and someone who’s produced “far and away the best offensive season anyone here has had at Georgia Gwinnett.”

Senior utility player Griffin Keller is the only player in NAIA baseball with 101 hits on the season and he enters the national tournament leading all Series players in batting average (.472) and hits per game (1.77). Although he might not see a ball clear the fence at Harris Field, Keller’s

F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

25 doubles rank second in the country and he has 29 extra-base hits on the year.

“If he’s not the national player of the year, I’d like to see the next guy behind him,” Sheetinger said. “… He’s special. He’s been an absolute catalyst inside our locker room and obviously within our lineup.”

Speaking of catalysts, the Grizzlies also have one of the nation’s most dangerous baserunners in Myles Smith, a swift junior whose 38 stolen bases rank third nationally.

On the mound, starting pitchers Hunter Dollander and Kevin Kyle have one loss between them and a combined record of 18-1.

G EORGIA GWINNE T T STATS BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI Griffin Keller 100 25 4 16 85 Jake Defries 50 8 3 3 35 Austin Bates 70 20 3 1 54 Livingston Morris 71 19 1 12 68 Gabe Howell 72 22 5 9 58 Cord Johnson 58 14 4 0 29 Nick Barnes 62 12 5 15 69 Chase Evans 33 5 1 5 35 Kyle Harvey 58 15 1 2 31 Myles McKisic 23 4 1 1 14 Josh Davis 24 3 0 2 33 JD Stubbs 14 3 0 3 16 Myles Smith 14 5 1 1 13 Tate Kight 15 3 1 1 12 Totals 676 161 30 72 550 Opponents 399 58 4 27 203 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB Hunter Moody 0.00 0-0 9.1 9 0 0 4 Hunter Caudelle 0.50 2-0 18 7 1 1 5 Gage Williams 2.57 5-0 35 24 11 10 18 Alex Friesen 3.00 0-0 18 11 8 6 10 Hunter Dollander 3.00 10-1 72 64 26 24 16 Jonathan Haab 3.38 2-2 24 17 10 9 15 Tyler Clayton 3.38 4-2 53.1 40 24 20 22 Adam McKillican 3.93 6-3 55 56 34 24 31 Kevin Kyle 4.21 8-0 62 54 29 29 15 Klay Allen 4.29 4-0 21 25 14 10 8 Gavin Heltemes 5.87 3-1 23 28 19 15 12 Rob Hamby 6.17 1-1 23.1 33 17 16 9 Rhian Mann 6.59 1-0 13.2 12 10 10 7 Jaelin Sewell 9.39 0-0 7.2 9 11 8 14 Totals 3.88 46-10 445 399 229 192 200 Opponents 11.80 10-46 409.2 676 619 537 312 Saves (10) — Caudelle 5, Williams 2, McKillican 2, Mann.

AVG. AB .478 209 .439 114 .427 164 .392 181 .377 191 .372 156 .350 177 .347 95 .341 170 .295 78 .293 82 .275 51 .255 55 .250 60 .370 1828 .236 1691

R 82 50 9 58 72 51 56 28 57 26 32 11 63 13 619 229

BB 31 23 16 21 50 24 21 18 26 15 23 14 11 9 312 200 SO 10 30 37 22 85 34 51 61 66 20 25 24 28 10 517 320

SO 24 14 10 32 30 22 46 31 16 23 19 7 14 23 320 517 HR 0 0 0 0 7 1 2 2 8 0 2 3 1 0 27 72

OBP .545 .543 .507 .460 .508 .465 .415 .480 .435 .404 .455 .431 .391 .347 .470 .337 AVG. .250 .117 .195 .169 .234 .195 .207 .259 .233 .291 .283 .344 .226 .300 .236 .370

SLG .866 .640 .604 .707 .686 .513 .729 .579 .476 .410 .402 .510 .436 .383 .609 .323 WHIP 1.393 0.667 1.200 1.167 1.111 1.333 1.163 1.582 1.113 1.571 1.739 1.800 1.390 3.000 1.346 2.412

F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

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4 SEED

Battle-tested Eagles are ready to rake Oklahoma Wesleyan endured a stretch of 25 games in 30 days to reach the NAIA promised land

Junior first baseman Cody Muncy heads a murderer’s row of Oklahoma Wesleyan hitters who lead the NAIA in slugging percentage (.670), runs scored (628) and runs batted in (587).

By STEPHAN WIEBE FOR THE TRIBUNE

Coach Kirk Kelley calls his 2021 Oklahoma Wesleyan team one of the most resilient he’s coached. And for good reason.

The battle-hardened team from Bartlesville, Okla., makes its first World Series appearance since 2017 on the heels of playing 25 games in 30 days ahead of the postseason.

The crazy cram session happened because of two COVID-19-related delays during the season, so the team had to play almost every day in April and early May. “Our schedule at the end was unbelievable,” Kelley said.

“To come out of that as the champions of Kelley the league was big.”

The fourthseeded Eagles (49-9) won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference tourney and fought through the opening-round Marion, Ind., bracket despite three losses in the two tournaments. OKWU bounced back from a loss to Indiana Tech to defeat the Warriors 12-4 in an if-necessary game to advance here.

“They handled the grind extremely well,” Kelley said. “We forget a lot of times these guys are still going to class and taking tests and going to labs and finals, so the fact that they went through it and came out on top tells me what kind of guys we have.”

Courtesy of Oklahoma Wesleyan University

The Eagles’ success rides largely on one of the best lineups in the NAIA. OKWU leads the nation in runs scored (628), RBI (587), home runs per game (2.517) and slugging percentage (.670).

The heart of the Eagles’ order is the heart of the team.

There’s Cody Muncy, who has a shot at an “unheard of” 100 hits and 100 RBI; Isaac Wersland, who broke the program record with 29 home runs, and Danny Perez, an all-around hitter who’s played every game.

“No matter what’s going good or bad, he’s the guy that stays calm and we kind of all follow,” Kelley said of

O KL AHOM A W ES L EYA N STAT S BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI 95 22 0 25 88 38 5 2 6 28 78 10 1 19 70 29 8 1 1 20 72 15 1 28 72 53 12 1 13 45 59 13 3 15 50 34 6 1 11 30 56 6 1 4 36 26 5 3 3 27 27 6 0 8 24 23 3 3 1 16 677 124 20 146 587 445 71 3 47 233 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB Brendan Bell 2.04 6-0 35.1 29 8 8 7 Billy Wall 3.00 3-1 51 44 28 17 13 Kellen Brothers 3.05 8-0 59 50 26 20 8 Crosby Bringhurst 3.18 9-0 68 66 29 24 10 Michael Mendoza 4.67 6-1 44.1 43 27 23 15 Team Hackler 5.18 2-1 24.1 21 16 14 16 Ryan Kouba 5.31 2-1 20.1 20 16 12 15 Eric Nova 5.40 3-2 31.2 27 24 19 20 Andrew Grieder 5.47 5-2 52.2 64 46 32 22 Sebastian Irwin 6.44 3-1 36.1 49 32 26 14 Totals 4.26 49-9 454.2 444 272 215 153 Opponents 12.09 9-49 430.1 675 628 578 277 Saves (10) — Bell 4, Wall 3, Brothers, Hackler, Irwin.

AVG. AB Cody Muncy .466 204 Estefferson Melean .388 98 Danny Perez .380 205 Nicholas Chavez .367 79 Isaac Wersland .367 196 Jesus Rojas .356 149 A’Darius Council .330 179 Seth Delgado .324 105 Hector Manon .316 177 Remi Patry .292 89 Ryan Kouba .290 93 Nate Richardson .274 84 Totals .355 1908 Opponents .250 1781

R 70 43 52 7 66 35 60 11 67 24 19 39 628 272

BB 42 21 33 13 25 11 18 7 31 9 10 14 277 153

SO 48 25 22 22 52 17 60 23 26 14 22 19 420 487

SO HR 31 2 59 6 68 6 78 4 43 8 33 2 23 1 44 0 47 7 33 6 492 47 420 146

Perez.

On paper, the Eagles aren’t as deadly on the mound as they are at the plate, although they do have three pitchers without a loss on the season in Crosby Bringhurst (9-0), Kellen Brothers (8-0) and Brendan Bell (6-0).

Oklahoma Wesleyan’s opening-round game against Georgia Gwinnett could have the makings of a barnburner. The Grizzlies are World Series regulars who are known for their big bats. They’re top five in the NAIA in 16 offensive categories.

“I have a ton of respect for their coaches and their program in general,” Kelley said. “Every team in this

tournament has a chance, so I think it definitely makes it a lot of fun for everyone.”

Having fun is one thing Kelley’s teams are good at. The longtime coach preaches a simple philosophy that’s helped guide his group to its first World Series appearance since 2017.

The philosophy? Have fun and play ball like they did during their Little League days, but also approach the game with the mentality of a major leaguer.

“I tell them I want them to play like 8-year-olds, but I also want them to play like professionals,” Kelley said, “and I think they do that pretty well.” best among Series teams.

HITTING:  Good luck slowing these guys down at the plate. This squad scored more than 20 runs seven times this season and leads the NAIA in runs scored, RBI, home runs per game and slugging percentage.

> Oklahoma Wesleyan OBP .569 .508 .478 .474 .475 .458 .401 .434 .439 .368 .421 .422 .462 .334

AVG. .215 .223 .219 .250 .249 .231 .250 .233 .299 .306 .249 .354

SLG .941 .663 .717 .532 .883 .711 .687 .714 .429 .517 .613 .417 .670 .372 WHIP 1.019 1.118 0.983 1.118 1.308 1.521 1.721 1.484 1.633 1.734 1.313 2.212

Location: Bartlesville, Okla.

Nickname: Eagles Coach: Kirk Kelley (third season in second stint) Season record: 49-9 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 7 How qualified: Won Shreveport Bracket Number of appearances; best finish: third, third in 2017

> Juice (out of five stars) STARTERS:  The Eagles won’t scare you on the mound, so they might need to rely on their explosive bats for a deep run.

RELIEVERS:  What this team lacks in starpower pitching, it makes up in depth. The bullpen is solid, led by Bell and his 6-0 record, 2.04 ERA and 31 strikeouts 35 innings.

FIELDING:  This is a decent fielding team with a .964 fielding percentage that ranks No. 19. The downside?

That percentage is seventh-

SPEED: ½ Muncy’s 23 doubles are tied for fourth, but the Eagles aren’t overly speedy on the basepaths aside from A’Darius Council, who nabbed 25 steals in 27 tries.

INTANGIBLES:  After playing 25 games in 30 days, the Eagles should be ready for any craziness the World Series throws at them. Stamina shouldn’t be an issue for these guys.

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

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F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

3 SEED

Revamped Warriors eager for reloaded Series LCSC head coach Jake Taylor says his squad is hungry to acquire the school’s 20th NAIA baseball crown

By COLTON CLARK SPORTS STAFF

It’s an unusually late firsttime experience for many of Lewis-Clark State’s main figures, players who have been solidified in the Warrior lineup and staff for more than a season.

Several familiar faces have sported LCSC baseball uniforms in 65 games. They’ve lived here and trained at Harris Field for the past yearand-a-half.

But until now, they’d missed out on the distinguishing event of this valley and their program: the Avista NAIA World Series. “ T h o s e guys who came in last year were always talking about it. They wanted to be a part of the Taylor Series,” said second baseman A.J. Davis, a Clarkston High grad who’s no stranger to the scene. “We’re telling them, ‘Be ready for the atmosphere. The community’s there for you. Do what you do.’ ” Last season’s edition of the national tournament was axed by the coronavirus pandemic, which cut LCSC’s campaign short after 20 games.

At this point, a few of 2020’s key newcomers probably feel like they’ve been around forever. No question, it’s

Pete Caster/Tribune

After cleanly fielding a ground ball, Lewis-Clark State second baseman A.J. Davis (2) tosses the ball to first baseman Brock Ephan (48) for an out against College of Idaho earlier this season. The Warriors’ defense is one of their strong suits, and an underrated key to their success, according to coach Jake Taylor. strange how upperclassmen like ace Eric Chavarria, star outfielders Aidan Nagle and Jack Johnson, and third baseman Dillon Plew — among a handful of others — haven’t yet had the opportunity to showcase themselves against these elite NAIA visitors.

“They’re hungry,” LCSC

> Lewis-Clark State Location: Lewiston Nickname: Warriors Coach: Jake Taylor (third season) Season record: 41-4 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 5 How qualified: Host berth Number of appearances; best finish: 39; NAIA champions in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2017

> Juice (out of five stars) STARTERS: ½ Chavarria (8-1, 2.43 ERA) has developed

coach Jake Taylor said. “It’s special. They want a shot to play in front of the home town and compete for a title.

“Last year stole so many things. We were fortunate to recruit really well and get all our seniors back.”

The third-seeded Warriors (41-4) retained their budding talents from 2020 and load-

into the veteran, No. 1 option, while Washington State transfer Sellers and Holmes have been solid — more or less — in their first full Warrior seasons.

Otherwise, there isn’t much biggame experience here. The back end of the rotation has been a question mark all year.

RELIEVERS:  Parker and Blackman probably are LCSC’s hardest throwers, and they’ll be called on first in tricky situations and crunch time. They’ve combined for 67 strikeouts in 65 1/3 innings. Thomason has started seven games, but he’ll help out

ed up on some more. They’re easily at their deepest of the Taylor era, and playing at their most well-rounded since 2017 — LCSC’s latest title season, its 19th in all.

“You can tell there’s a difference (at practices), no doubt about it,” Taylor said.

“Guys have been sharp, high energy. We’re healthy and get-

the bullpen too. Seven other relievers have been in-and-out and hit-and-miss.

FIELDING:  LCSC ranks third in the country in fielding percentage at .978. Davis tops the NAIA with a perfect percentage. The Warriors have turned two more double plays (38) than errors committed. Taylor said his team’s defense has been an underrated key to success.

HITTING:  A much less underrated key to success, the Warriors’ potent bats have consistently produced crooked numbers. Their offense

ting kinda antsy, ready to go.”

Postseason rival Faulkner (Ala.) awaits the Warriors and starter Chavarria for a 7 p.m. first-round game today at Harris Field.

It’s the earliest the NAIA powers have met in a Series.

The Warriors, after mostly blitzing outmatched Cascade Conference foes this year,

ranks top three in the NAIA in each major per-game category, and eight in the lineup hit above .300.

SPEED: ½ Way often gets the nod to steal, and he often thrives in that respect (26-for-30).

Johnson is 11-for-13, but no one else has swiped more than five bags. Athleticism in the outfield also has been a plus.

INTANGIBLES: ½ The numbers are glowing, but how much of it is fool’s gold? The Cascade Conference was notably weak this season, and LCSC hasn’t played against an opponent with a winning record since February.

F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

Trent Sellers and developed a third in second-year freshman Alec Holmes. The Warriors reeled in a Division I catcher in Matt James and signed another D-I drop-down in the outfield, Sam Linscott.

Ephan, Nagle and Way took massive strides at the plate. The national standouts are LCSC’s Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in hitting, with their batting averages hovering around .400 for most of the year.

Davis is one of the nation’s most polished infielders, and the revitalized Johnson and Plew — former starters at Washington and Wazzu, respectively — are stable, savvy presences. Lewiston High School’s Luke White Pete Caster/Tribune packs power potential at Lewis-Clark State reliever Greg Blackman (5-0 with a 3.00 designated hitter.

ERA this season) is one of only two pitching holdovers from Ranking in the top three the last time the Warriors competed in the Series, 2019. nationally in the majority of per-game stat categories, welcome the instant chal- virtuoso shortstop Riley Way, offense is the run-piling a Lewistonian — have Series Warriors’ strong suit. LCSC lenge.

“With last year getting reps under their belts. posted crooked numbers like Out of the dozen throwers clockwork throughout its 22canceled, this is what we need,” said super-slugging employed regularly this year, game midseason winning senior first baseman Brock go-to relievers Jesse Parker streak.

Ephan, who’s been with and Greg Blackman are the “Because of our lineup, LCSC since 2017. “We need only holdovers from 2019. anything can happen,” Davis And that’s all right. Since said. this test. We need to find out where we are against these the previous Series, LCSC The explosive bats have teams. Faulkner’s up there has gotten some exceptional overshadowed the Warriors’ additions. with the best.” fielding, which Davis It found its No. 2 arm in acknowledged is the best it’s Just three regulars in the lineup — Davis, Ephan and Washington State transfer been during his four-year

LET THE WARRIORS HANDLE THE HOME RUNS

17

career.

Concerns with the staff’s starting rotation lessened as the season progressed, but an overall new-look bullpen probably will need a breakout this week from an extra arm or two. All told, LCSC is second in the NAIA with a 3.24 ERA — Cascade competition helped with that.

Taylor said the staff’s been “going in the right direction” steadily.

“I like our depth, and we have some guys who want the ball in big situations.”

Despite their odd inexperience in the Series, and against these kinds of opponents, the Warriors won’t be uncomfortable.

“Throughout the year, our practices are based on the Series,” Davis said. “We’re looking forward to these guys coming here. We’re looking crisp, clean. We’re ready.”

LEWIS- CL ARK STATE STATS BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI Brock Ephan 76 21 1 18 75 Aidan Nagle 60 18 0 13 59 Riley Way 76 12 2 3 45 Matt James 39 12 0 10 26 Dillon Plew 60 11 2 9 58 Jack Johnson 59 18 3 6 45 Zach Threlfall 16 6 0 3 23 A.J. Davis 40 5 2 3 25 Sam Linscott 36 6 1 5 22 Luke White 45 6 1 10 39 Dalton Harum 32 4 1 6 23 Zach Needham 13 0 0 0 7 Totals 574 125 14 86 457 Opponents 339 56 4 19 149 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB Jacob Bogacz 1.08 0-0 8.1 2 1 1 5 Jesse Parker 1.23 2-1 29.1 21 6 4 13 Eric Chavarria 2.43 8-1 63 56 19 17 12 Alec Holmes 2.62 5-0 44.1 26 13 13 20 Brooks Juhasz 2.91 0-0 21.2 21 9 7 3 Greg Blackman 3.00 5-0 36 37 12 12 8 Cameron Smith 3.65 3-1 12.1 13 5 5 4 Trent Sellers 3.66 6-1 51.2 43 29 21 36 Tallon Thomason 3.67 6-0 49 49 22 20 12 Eli Shubert 4.50 2-0 18 18 15 9 14 Lucas Gregory 4.50 3-0 14 13 7 7 8 Bryson Spagnuolo 5.79 0-0 14 17 16 9 3 Totals 3.24 41-4 388.2 339 169 140 156 Opponents 10.00 4-41 376.1 573 505 418 221 Saves (5) — Parker 3, Blackman, Connor Breding.

AVG. AB .422 180 .387 155 .384 198 .345 113 .335 179 .331 178 .302 53 .301 133 .300 120 .298 151 .283 113 .220 59 .340 1687 .233 1452

R 62 47 65 17 58 57 7 42 36 35 23 14 505 169

BB 28 17 30 16 33 17 8 15 18 13 14 7 221 156 SO 6 32 65 43 16 35 10 70 44 26 25 15 416 284

SO 31 29 24 34 18 21 11 10 23 20 33 18 284 416 HR 1 1 2 2 0 1 1 2 3 0 2 2 19 86

OBP .516 .459 .492 .435 .456 .437 .451 .419 .414 .374 .409 .351 .445 .325 AVG. .074 .202 .246 .168 .253 .268 .277 .222 .255 .247 .245 .283 .233 .340

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2 SEED

At long last, CMU Eagles soaring high Once downtrodden Missouri squad, winner of 13 of their last 14 games, earns a high seeding in its maiden voyage at Series have won 13 of their past 14 games, punched their ticket here with a 7-2 win May 20 When coach Nate Breland against William Carey. was playing at Central MethAnd being a top-two seed odist in the mid-2000s, “win- has its perks. Central Methodning nine, 10, 12 games a sea- ist will not play today and will son was acceptable.” take on the winner After graduating in of the Concordia-IU 2006, Breland hung Southeast game at around as a condi6:30 p.m. Saturday. tioning coach, and CMU defeated IUSE ultimately made the 10-3 in February, and move up to the top has not faced Conjob at the Fayette, cordia this year, but Mo., school in 2013.

Breland has familiarHis Eagles found new ity with that team, as momentum and broke it is nearby and plays Breland the school record for many opponents in wins with 44 in 2016, his conference. qualifying for the program’s “We’ll just do what we do all first national Opening Round year,” Breland said. “We’re appearance. just going to play our brand Fast forward five years, of baseball. If we lose, it’s and Central Methodist (46- because somebody beat us, 6) has taken the next step not because we outsmarted and claimed its first berth to ourselves. We’re just going to the Avista NAIA World Se- line up a few things and see ries — as the second seed to where we’re at.” boot. The Eagles, who earned Breland credits this seathe regular-season Heart of America Conference title and > See SOARING, Page 20

By CODY WENDT SPORTS STAFF

CEN TRAL M ETHODIST STATS BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO 73 16 0 18 67 34 20 69 15 0 19 50 38 33 49 6 3 2 23 17 16 59 10 1 11 51 15 29 33 5 0 5 20 12 18 58 16 1 7 38 14 30 32 9 1 8 31 5 29 19 1 0 1 11 2 8 40 12 0 1 23 20 14 57 12 2 4 22 16 32 43 6 1 5 35 14 37 536 109 9 81 371 194 281 339 64 3 30 140 121 433 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB SO HR Beau Atkins 1.93 1-1 23.1 10 5 5 5 27 0 Nick Merkel 1.96 12-0 82.2 68 18 18 21 113 8 Sergio Macias 2.19 1-0 12.1 11 5 3 2 16 2 Mason Schwellenbach 2.34 13-1 80.2 67 25 21 16 104 5 Dylan Brister 3.96 6-1 38.2 35 24 17 18 36 2 Tyler Vicars 4.18 2-0 23.2 21 13 11 7 20 4 Kenny Otero 4.19 9-2 73 79 42 34 21 71 6 Elvin Ramos 4.80 1-0 15 16 8 8 8 15 1 Nino Puckett 5.11 0-0 12.1 10 7 7 9 13 1 Isaiah Davis 5.40 1-0 13.1 14 8 8 6 10 0 Totals 3.30 46-6 382.1 337 163 140 121 433 30 Opponents 8.37 6-46 363.1 538 410 338 194 281 81 Saves (15) — Macias 5, Atkins 4, Brister 2, Merkel, Jeffers, Puckett, Luke Gray.

AVG. AB Sergio Macias .412 177 Logan Haring .392 176 Logan McDonald .386 127 Mason Schwellenbach .386 153 Max McCay .384 86 Kenny Otero .365 159 Adrian Martinez .333 96 Jeff Vance .306 62 Grant Victor .296 135 Deshawn Cole .295 195 Devon Garcia .276 156 Totals .343 1562 Opponents .233 1454

R 52 58 40 26 6 40 24 4 29 42 31 410 163

Courtesy of Central Methodist

Nick Merkel, a 6-foot-7 junior from Spokane who used to attend the Series at Lewiston as a fan growing up, is one of the Eagles’ two starting pitchers. He is 12-0 with a 1.96 ERA.

> Central Methodist OBP .507 .516 .477 .448 .470 .418 .394 .338 .400 .355 .343 .426 .306 AVG. .128 .217 .229 .221 .230 .236 .276 .262 .217 .269 .232 .343

SLG .808 .801 .528 .680 .616 .610 .698 .371 .407 .436 .423 .580 .343 WHIP 0.643 1.077 1.054 1.029 1.371 1.183 1.370 1.600 1.541 1.500 1.198 2.015

Location: Fayette, Mo. Nickname: Eagles Coach: Nate Breland (eighth season) Season record: 46-6 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 7 How qualified: Won O’Fallon Bracket Number of appearances: This is the team’s first.

> Juice (out of five stars) STARTERS:  With two standout starting pitchers to choose from, CMU is on firm footing.

RELIEVERS:  Central Methodist has

shown enough depth to hold opponents to the third-lowest ERA in the nation at 3.30.

FIELDING:  The Eagles rank 10th nationally in fielding percentage and third among Series participants.

HITTING: 

CMU is eighth among NAIA teams in batting average at .343, and 13th in home runs with 81.

SPEED:  The Eagles appear to be relatively conservative base runners, with modest rates both of stolen bases and of being caught stealing.

INTANGIBLES: ½ Breland describes his team as excited and full of positive energy, riding a streak of meteoric success. On the other hand, the Eagles never have before been tested under the pressure on the biggest stage in NAIA ball.

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2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

SOARING > Continued from PAGE 19 son’s success in part to a dedicated core of “COVID seniors” who have returned for an extra year to achieve the glory denied to them in 2020.

“We’re just loaded with 22-to-24-year-old guys, you know,” he said.

Nick Merkel, a 6-foot-7 junior from Spokane who used to attend the Series as a fan growing up, is one of the Eagles’ two starting pitchers along with COVID senior Mason Swellenbach, who was a 2019 AllAmerican honorable mention.

Leading the way at bat for CMU is junior first baseman Logan Haring, who has notched 19 home runs this season and broken a school career hit record previously held by Breland.

“It was probably one of the coolest moments for me as a coach to see that,” Breland said. “Humble kid, simple kid. He believes in this place; he has the CMU tattoo on his forearm. He’s one of those buy-in kids that every coach would wish they had in the program.”

Senior Sergio Macias has hit 16 homers of his own and led the team in batting average at .410.

“We’re just a high-energy team,” Breland said. “Very chattery dugout; an excited team, and we just do a lot of different things, man. ... We’re just going to take it one day at a Courtesy of Central Methodist time. We’re excited to have the opportunity, Sergio Macias, a senior, has swatted 16 round-trippers this season and leads Central Methodist hitters with a and if we’re going to make the trip up here, we might as well try to win the thing.” .410 batting average.

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1 SEED

Fire rekindled: Top seed returns as the favorite After winning 50 games and bashing out an NAIA-best 683 hits, 2018 champ Southeastern is back in town and ready to swing the lumber

By STEPHAN WIEBE FOR THE TRIBUNE

The Avista NAIA World Series is back after a year hiatus and the “fire” has been rekindled for a Southeastern team that enters as the favorite to win it all at Harris Field.

The Fire are the tournament’s top seed and are no strangers to recent success here. Southeastern won its first Series in 2018, returned in 2019 as a three-seed en route to a tie for fifth, and racked up a 26-1 record in a

2020 season cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

So it’s no surprise the 50-7 team from Lakeland, Fla., enters with a target on its back.

“We’re just thankful, counting our blessings that we get the chance to go back up there and do it again,” fifth-year Southeastern coach Adrian Dinkel said. “We’ve all been through a lot, so pretty blessed to get to go do it.”

There aren’t many weaknesses on a well-rounded

Courtesy of Southeastern University

Nick Bottari, a senior first baseman for the Fire, is hitting at a .422 clip, with 21 home runs.

He was also on the team in 2018 when Southeastern won it all. “The old man can still hit,” > See FIRE, Page 22 says his coach, Adrian Dinkel.

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> Southeastern

FIRE

Location: Lakeland, Fla. Nickname: Fire Coach: Adrian Dinkel (fifth season) Season record: 49-7 Rank in final NAIA poll: No. 2 How qualified: Won Lakeland Bracket Number of appearances; best finish: three; NAIA champions in 2018.

> Continued from PAGE 21 Southeastern crew that ranks in the top five in the nation in hitting (fifth, .351 average) and pitching (fifth, 3.37 ERA), and 12th in fielding percentage (.967).

It also boasts experience. Southeastern’s top hitter during its ’18 championship run? The same player leading the team now — Nick Bottari.

The senior first Dinkel baseman is tops on the team in batting average (.422), home runs (21), runs (80) and second in hits (81).

“The old man can still hit,” Dinkel said.

“We’re thankful that that guy’s here, man.

He’s the guy you’re going to miss a ton.”

Onstott Bottari’s big bat is far from the only weapon for the Fire. Four players boast double-digit home runs and 10 with significant experience are hitting .333 or better.

Colton Onstott — the Fire’s other player with Series experience (in 2019) — adds a team-high 83 hits and ranks second in batting average at .419.

MAY

28

> Juice (out of five stars) STARTERS:  The Fire continue to bring the heat to the Series. The team’s 556 strikeouts are No. 2 in the nation. Only 20 pitchers have double-digit wins and Southeastern has two of them in Munoz (11) and Camacho (10).

RELIEVERS: ½ Some of Southeastern’s former relievers were shoved into starting roles because of injuries. They’ve excelled there — and the “next-man-up mentality” has worked well — but pitching depth and lack “(Bottari) and Colton Onstott are the two guys that we’ve just been able to plug in the middle of the lineup over the last three years and just know that they’re going to give us a chance to win every game every time they’re up,” Dinkel said.

On the mound, the Fire have battled some unspecified injuries, Dinkel said, but have had multiple players

-

JUNE

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F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1

of big-time experience could be a concern.

FIELDING:  On a team with such solid hitting and pitching, this bunch’s fielding prowess shouldn’t be underestimated.

Its fielding percentage of .967 is 12th-best in the nation and fourth-best in the tournament.

HITTING:  No NAIA team has more hits than this crew’s 683. With top-five spots in hitting and home runs, the Fire bat for average and power better than most.

SPEED:  Speed isn’t the strength of this squad.

While the Fire do get a lot of doubles (tied for fourth with 137), they are 44th in stolen bases despite being No. 1 in hits.

INTANGIBLES:  Courtesy Southeastern University

Bottari brings leadership and championship-winning experience that no other Series team can match.

He’s been there, done that.

Christian Camacho is 10-1 with a 2.79 ERA. He’s also struck out 102 batters while walking 28.

step up and perform well.

Ace Christian Camacho started the season as the No. 3 pitcher. Now, he enters the Series with a 10-1 record and a whopping 100 innings pitched — by far the most on the team.

Ryan Munoz started the season in the bullpen before moving into a starting spot and racking up an 11-0 record and 1.87 ERA.

“We’ve just had a lot of guys kind of step up into some roles and they’ve done a heck of a job helping us get back here to the World Series,” Dinkel said.

“That’s what’s been fun about this group is just the next-man-up mentality.”

Dinkel said finding ways to keep people healthy was one of the biggest challenges after COVID-19 axed the 2020 season and sent the offsea-

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F R I D A Y, M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 2 1 son into uncertainty. Players who normally train, play and practice close to 365 days per year suddenly were separated from their routines for extended periods.

But Dinkel said he and his team tried to look at the positive — although they missed a year, they were able to get back at it this spring and are one of the few teams still playing ball.

2021 NAIA WORLD SERIES PREVIEW / LEWISTON TRIBUNE The Fire have a bye in the first round and will play the winner of eighth-seeded Keiser vs. No. 9 LSU Shreveport at 3 p.m. Saturday.

“This tournament … the best team doesn’t always win it,” Dinkel said. “So we’re just going to go compete, and we’re playing with house money at this point, so we’re just excited to get out there.”

SO U THEA STER N STATS BATTING Minimum 50 at-bats H 2B 3B HR RBI 81 20 0 21 52 83 14 0 10 59 76 18 2 12 52 51 9 0 7 35 77 13 2 6 52 75 13 0 15 85 32 5 0 5 18 59 12 0 12 45 21 4 0 5 21 18 4 0 1 10 26 4 0 3 15 42 10 0 7 31 17 3 0 1 13 683 137 4 112 515 405 72 2 39 199 PITCHING Minimum seven appearances ERA W-L IP H R ER BB Drew Gillespie 1.79 4-1 55.1 36 15 11 18 Ryan Munoz 1.87 11-0 62.2 56 18 13 17 Brenden Heiss 1.89 2-0 19 4 10 4 15 Christian Camacho 2.79 10-1 100 76 41 31 28 Ronnie Voacolo 3.38 2-0 16 15 6 6 4 D.J. Roberts 3.44 2-0 34 32 15 13 6 Jayden Hartle 3.71 2-1 34 27 17 14 12 Marc Soto 4.50 1-3 18 20 15 9 9 Zach Rice 4.67 5-0 34.2 29 21 18 25 Al Pesto 5.06 5-0 16 18 13 9 4 Nick Houghton 5.19 1-0 8.2 7 9 5 8 Bryce Mulcahy 5.86 2-0 27.2 30 21 18 20 Damien Torres 6.00 1-1 21 24 14 14 7 Jack Wolgast 6.08 1-0 13.1 17 9 9 7 Totals 3.37 49-7 475.2 403 229 178 194 Opponents 10.19 7-49 447 683 566 506 283 Saves (12) — Buckallew 7, Lycan 2, Samuelson 2, Whittaker.

AVG. AB Nick Bottari .422 192 Colton Onstott .419 198 Sam Faith .411 185 Carter Bridge .367 139 Thomas Broyles .363 212 Pedro Castellano .354 212 Luis Cabrera .352 91 Anthony Carrera .343 172 Benito Varela .339 62 Raymond Gonzalez .333 54 Jose Marcano .289 90 Austin James .263 160 Shamir Morales .236 72 Totals .351 1945 Opponents .227 1785

R 80 53 56 42 65 47 10 65 7 39 26 42 2 566 229

BB 46 11 33 9 23 31 8 32 8 4 16 34 12 283 194

SO 30 15 36 16 32 29 14 46 18 13 18 44 14 359 556

SO HR 72 3 73 3 29 1 102 9 17 3 31 3 40 2 22 1 35 2 22 2 11 1 40 3 25 4 16 1 556 39 359 112

OBP .566 .455 .519 .408 .423 .440 .408 .451 .446 .390 .430 .409 .380 .446 .320 AVG. .184 .238 .063 .208 .250 .244 .214 .270 .232 .269 .194 .268 .279 .315 .226 .351

SLG .854 .641 .724 .583 .528 .627 .571 .622 .645 .463 .433 .456 .319 .598 .335 WHIP 0.976 1.165 1.000 1.040 1.188 1.118 1.147 1.611 1.558 1.375 1.731 1.807 1.476 1.800 1.255 2.161

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NAIA BASEBALL CHAMPIONS 1957 ....................................... Sul Ross State 1958 .....................................San Diego State 1959 ............................................... Southern 1960 ............................................ Whitworth 1961 ......................................... East Carolina 1962 ..................................Georgia Southern 1963 ............................... Sam Houston State 1964 .................................West Liberty State 1965 ................................... Carson–Newman 1966 .................................................. Linfield 1967 ..........................New Mexico Highlands 1968 ....................................... William Jewell 1969 ........................................ William Carey 1970 .................................. Eastern Michigan 1971 .............................................Linfield (2) 1972 ................................................La Verne 1973 .................. United States International 1974 ..................................................... Lewis 1975 ................................................Lewis (2) 1976 ................................................Lewis (3) 1977 .....................................David Lipscomb 1978 ....................................... Emporia State 1979 ............................... David Lipscomb (2) 1980 ........................................Grand Canyon 1981 .................................. Grand Canyon (2) 1982 .................................. Grand Canyon (3) 1983 ................................. Lubbock Christian 1984 ..................................Lewis–Clark State 1985 ............................ Lewis–Clark State (2) 1986 .................................. Grand Canyon (4) 1987 ............................ Lewis–Clark State (3) 1988 ............................ Lewis–Clark State (4)

1989 ............................ Lewis–Clark State (5) 1990 ........................... Lewis–Clark State (6) 1991 ............................ Lewis–Clark State (7) 1992 ............................ Lewis–Clark State (8) 1993 .......................................St. Francis (IL) 1994 .................................... Kennesaw State 1995 .........................................Bellevue (NE) 1996 ............................ Lewis–Clark State (9) 1997 .................................... Brewton–Parker 1998 .................................... College of Idaho 1999 ...........................Lewis–Clark State (10) 2000 .......................... Lewis–Clark State (11) 2001 ..........................Birmingham–Southern 2002 ..........................Lewis–Clark State (12) 2003 ..........................Lewis–Clark State (13) 2004 ..................................Cumberland (TN) 2005 ......................................Oklahoma City 2006 ..........................Lewis–Clark State (14) 2007 ..........................Lewis–Clark State (15) 2008 ..........................Lewis–Clark State (16) 2009 ...........................Lubbock Christian (2) 2010 ............................. Cumberland (TN) (2) 2011 ...................................... Concordia (CA) 2012 ............................. Tennessee Wesleyan 2013 ................................................Faulkner 2014 ............................. Cumberland (TN) (3) 2015 ........................... Lewis–Clark State (17) 2016 ...........................Lewis–Clark State (18) 2017 ...........................Lewis–Clark State (19) 2018 .........................................Southeastern 2019 ........................Tennessee Wesleyan (2) 2020 ............................................... No Series

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