post-season play

game.

The Flames traveled to the NAIA College World Series baseball tournament in early June with a 37-11 record.

Their first opponent in Texas was Lubbock Christian College,the tournament host.

The Flames held offa latechallenge by the Chaparrals to score a 8-5 first round victory.

Lubbock went out in front early in thegame with two runs on four walks and one hitinthe firstinning.But the Flames came back in the bottom half and combined three hits with a Lubbock error and moved ahead,3-2

The Texas team tied it up in the second with back-to-back doubles, but LBC regained its lead in thethird. Leading off with a single, Renard Brown stolesecond, moved tothird on a passed ball and then scored on a wild pitch by Lubbock starter Rod Cline. Rick Wells, running for Tom Sweat who had walked, also crossed the plate when Lee Guetterman hit a run-scoring double

With a score of 5-3, there was no further action until the seventh inning. After having the game delayed by more than an hour due torain,LBC scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to increase their lead to83

The Chaparrals rallied again in the ninth to score two runs, but the Flames held on towin their first game in the NAIA finals

The LBC team's second game was against Azuza Pacific College,a California team that had received afirstround bye in the tournament

The game,which the Flames won 54,began on Wednesday but ended on Thursday Severe thunderstorms were responsible for the 19 hour delay.

LBC took a 3-0 first inning lead with a Sid Bream bases-clearing double

Azuza Pacific tied the game in the fourth without the benefit of a hit Shoddy play by the Flames including a dropped pop fly,a passed ball and an infield error enabled the Californians to gain three runs even though LBC starter Lee Guetterman had pitched no-hit ball

But then the rains came, suspending theaction until the following day

In the first inning on Thursday, Mark deYmaz and Sid Bream slapped back-to-back doubles to give LBC a 4-3 lead after five innings

The next inning, the sixth, Rick Wells scored what was to be the winning run on asingleby Gary Wagner.

Azuza pulled to within one in the bottom of the sixth but could not top the Flames for the win

Starter Lee Guetterman got the win to up his record to 10-5,while Doug Smith collected a save

Next to face the Flames was Winthrop College of South Carolina

In the contest, LBC squandered away two excellentscoring opportunities before watching Winthrop score three runs in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie

The Winthrop second baseman twice threw LBC runners out at home plate in the fifth and sixth innings But the key play of the game was a two-run Winthrop single in the eighth inning that broke a 1-1 tie.

The Flames had a chance to come back in the ninth,but their bats were silent and the game fell to Winthrop, 4-1

Never fully recovering from their losstoWinthrop,the Flames dropped their next and final game the following day

They were paired against Azuza Pacific, the California team they had beaten two days before Seeking revenge, the Cougars eliminated the Flames from the tournament with a score of11-1

Azuza held LBC to a mere five hits in the game.

"Although we only got five hits, their pitcher was really not that good," Coach Al Worthington said. "They scored afew runs early and got off to a good start We hit the ball hard,but usually right at somebody."

LBC got it'sonly run in the fourth innng when Rick Wells,who singled, scored on agrounder by SteveYounts

LBC was the sixth team to beeliminated from the 10-team field.

The Flames thus finished fifth in the nation with a record of 39-13

"The team had a great year so they have nothing to be ashamed of We played the best we could," Worthington said • an AIAW All-American.

Team captain Karen Booker led the team in runs scored. Booker was nominated to be an AIAW All-American.