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NAIA Baseball National Championship, semifinals

Report on the fifth day of the NAIA Baseball National Championship tournament in Lewiston, ID.

by
Bob Broughton
May 31, 2023

Results of the NAIA Baseball National Championship in Lewiston, ID for May 31.

Lewis-Clark State 15, William Carey 6 (William Carey eliminated)

Isaiah Thomas – photo by Alisha Alexander

The Warrriors lit up a depleted Crusader pitching staff with six home runs. The barrage started with a three-run home run by Nick Seamons in the bottom of the second inning, chasing Crusader starter Andrew Shirah. The Warriors led 6-0 after two innings. The Crusaders got back into it with six runs in the top of the fourth inning, starting with a two-RBI triple by Rigoberto Hernandez. Hernandez scored on a ground out by Caleb Laird. Bobby Lada hit a three-run home run to tie the game 6-6, but the Crusaders didn’t score again the rest of the way. Isaiah Thomas hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. Seamons hit his second home run of the game, for two runs, in the bottom of the fifth.

At that point, the Warriors led 9-6, and the game was still within reach for the Crusaders. However, the Warriors started the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run by Jakob Marquez. After an out on a popup, Carter Booth hit a home run. That chased John Snyder, who entered the game in the second inning. His replacement, Caeleb Williams, faced three batters, walked two of them. Williams was replaced by Connor Adams, and he was greeted with a three-run home run by Thomas, his second of the game. Dominic Signorelli hit a single, and scored on a double by Pu’ukani De Sa to complete the scoring. Every one of the Warriors’ starting position players got a hit.

Jake Green got the win. He entered the game in the fourth inning. He gave up the home run by Lada, but got out of the inning with a strikeout and a fly out. He pitched 3 1/3 innings, was charged with two runs on five hits, struck out three. He was relieved by Bryson Spagnuolo, who faced seven batters, and gave up only a walk, struck out two. Snyder got the loss. Thomas finished 3-for-4 with five RBI. Attendance: 2,175. Recap Box score

Southeastern 10, Westmont 3

The Fire out-hit the Warriors 9-5, but the Fire got two unearned runs and took advantage of several mistakes by the Warriors. The Fire got runners at first and third with no outs in the top of the second on three consecutive errors. The first run came home when Stephen Cullen reached on a fielder’s choice. The next batter, Jose Marcano, hit a two-run home run. Two batters later, Nick Block hit a solo home run, and the Fire led 4-0 with only two hits.

The Warriors had an even bigger disaster in the top of the third inning. Their starter, Carlos Moreno, struck out the first two batters, and had two strikes on Gary Lora. Instead of getting a 3-up, 3-down inning with one more strike, Moreno hit the batter. The next batter, Chayce Bryant, hit a two-run home run. (The left fielder didn’t even move.) Moreno walked the next batter, and the following batter, Jose Marcano, hit an RBI double. The Fire’s lead was now 7-0, with only four hits. They added a solo home run by Block in the fourth (his second of the game), and a two-RBI double by David Castillo in the fifth, again with two outs. The lead was now 10-0, and the end of the Fire’s scoring.

Meanwhile, Fire starter J.J. Sanchez allowed a hit in the bottom of the second inning, and didn’t allow a second hit until the bottom of the seventh inning, although Robbie Haw scored a run in the sixth as a result of a walk, a wild pitch, moving to third on a ground out, and scoring on an error. That second hit was an RBI single by Haw. Sanchez was relieved in the eighth, after allowing one earned run on two hits, walked four, and struck out seven. The Warriors managed one more run in the eighth on an RBI double by Parker O’Neil.

Marcano finished 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, and three RBI. Moreno got the loss. Recap Box score

Westmont’s loss means there are three teams in the tournament with one loss. Lewis-Clark State has played one more game than the other two teams (their first game of the tournament was a “play in” game), so they get to take Thursday off while Southeastern and Westmont play again.