Ben Harris – photo by Bob Broughton
From the first day of the NAIA Baseball National Championship in Lewiston, ID:
Georgia Gwinnett 11, British Columbia 1. Run ruled after eight innings. The Grizzlies batted around in the first, scoring four runs, starting with a sacrifice fly by Scott Seeker. Jackson Cobb and Paul Winland Jr. followed with RBI doubles, and Matthew Lee added an RBI single. In the bottom of the sixth, Jon Ponder hit an RBI single; Tyler M. Martin scored the run; the hit-and-run was on, and he got a huge start off second base. Thunderbird starter Will Anderson was relieved by Adam Khan; he was greeted with a three-run home run by Alex Harrell, and the Grizzlies led 8-0. In the bottom of the eighth, Cobb hit a two-RBI double, and Winland hit an RBI single to give the Grizzlies the ten-run margin.
The Thunderbirds were unable to solve Grizzly starter Ben Harris. He pitched 7 1/3 innings, was charged with one run on six hits, struck out 12, threw 112 pitches. That run didn’t happen until the top of the eighth inning, and he wasn’t even on the mound when it was scored. The Thunderbirds opened the inning with two of those six hits, doubles by Jonny McGill and Trent Lenihan. Harris was relieved by Jaxon Dennis, and McGill ended the shutout by scoring on a ground out by Mitchell Middlemiss.
Anderson got the loss. He allowed seven runs on nine hits, struck out six, threw 101 pitches. Harrell finished 4-for-5 with the home run and three doubles. McGill had two hits.
Hilo Yamamoto started at third base, replacing Aaron Marsh, who was injured during the Opening Round tournament. Yamamoto was injured during a pickoff attempt in the second inning, and was replaced by David Krahn.
Attendance: 1,315 box score recap
All of the higher seeds won. In other games, defending champion Hope International defeated U. of the Cumberlands 10-4. LSU-Shreveport won their 55th game without a loss, defeating Grand View 6-3. Tennessee Wesleyan defeated Loyola-New Orleans 7-3.
Schedule for Saturday, May 24:
11 AM PDT: #4 seed Webber International vs. #5 Southeastern (final first round game)
3 PM: Grand View vs. U. of the Cumberlands (loser out)
6:30 PM: British Columbia vs. Loyola-New Orleans (loser out)
