Flames enter NAI A

Whe n the LBC baseball team enteredNAIA post-seasonplay for the first time in the team's history, they took a giant step toward their long-time dream of a trip to Omaha, Neb., for the NCAA Division Inationals.

With a30-10regular seasonrecord, the Flamestraveledto Norfolk, Va., in mid-May for theDistrict 19 playoffs.

An opening round victory over Bowie State, 19-9, and an 8-0 victory overNorfolk StateputLBC inthe driver's seat at the double-elimination tournament

LBC captured theBowie State game with a six-run third inning and an eight-run sixth inning to crush the number four seed of thetournament.

SidBream hit athree-runhome run in the third inning, his 11th of the year, tosetanew singleseason mark. LBC assistantcoach JeffMincey held therecord with 10, setin 1976 Bream then added a two-run homer in the sixth

Mike Moon,5-0, picked up the victory.

In the Norfolk State game, Lee Guetterman posted his ninth victory in 14 decisions Guetterman struck out nine in the 8-0victory

The following day, the Flames clinched the district playoffs with an 18-1 win over Bowie State.Freshman

Kyle Bryan recorded the win togive him an 6-1 record with a 2.59 ERA

The team traveled to Freeport, Pa., thefollowing weekend for theArea 8 tournament, the last obstacle to be overcomebeforebecoming eligible for the Lubbock, Texas, national competition

LBC faced Castleton State of Vermont intheopener ofthetournament and came away victorious,6-5 Later the same day, the Flames fell to the tournament favorite, BloomfieldState of New Jersey, 5-3.

The Flamesledby six runsafter five innings against Castleton State A four-run second inning and a solo shot by Sid Bream, his 14th of the year, inthefifthinning was followed by back-to-back doubles by Tom Sweat and Darrell Manuel toaccount fortheFlames' runs Castleton struck back for five runs in the top half of the ninth inning but reliever Doug Smith came on to record thesave

Bloomfield State pitcher Rich Embesser held LBC to four hits in the second contest of the day A two-run triple by SteveYounts and asingleby Mark deYmaz scored all three LBC runs in the third inning LBC ledthe game 3-2 until the top of the eighth when ahome run and atwo-run double put Bloomfield ahead to stay Starting pitcher Lee Guettermanscattered10 hits buttheloss went to Doug Smith, 5-2, who was thevictim ofthe three-run eighth inning.

The loss forced LBC to play three games the following day and leftthe Flames one loss away from elimination, yetHead Coach Al Worthington was confident of the team'sability

"We are planning to go to the nationals," Worthington said. "We plan towin three tomorrow."

And win they did. The Flames swept all threegames towin theArea 8 playoffs, qualifyingthem forthe national finals in Lubbock, Texas.

The Flames'firstvictim of theday was Penn St.-Behrend Led by Sid Bream's four home runs, the Flames emerged victoriouswith ascoreof 104. Freshman Aner Gonzalez went the distance and held the Pennsylvania team to only sixhits.

The win over Penn. St.-Behrend pushed the Flames into the regional finals against Bloomfield State,the only team thathad beaten theFlames in the regional competition

The teams played two games and LBC avenged it's previous lossasthe Flames dropped Bloomfield 12-11 in the firstgame,and romped the New Jersey team 16-6 in the second. The second win clinched the regional play-offs for theFlames

During the day, the Flames accumulated 57hits, 38 runs and 17 home runs

SidBream sparked LBC'shitting explosion with seven hits, eight runs scored and 10 runs battedin.

The Flames also had help from Mark deYmaz, who had four hits, threeRBIs and scored threetimes; PeterGuy,who hita home run andcollected two singles; and Tom Sweat, who added a two-run homer.

Relief pitcher Doug Smith got the win in the first game and Dave Schauer, in only his fifth startofthe season, got the win in the second