Pedro Vasquez
From the third day of the NAIA Baseball National Championship in Lewiston, ID:
U. of the Cumberlands 9, Loyola-New Orleans 8 (Loyola eliminated). The Patriots scored all nine of their runs in the first two innings, then hung on the rest of the way for a one-run win.
Charlie Muniz got it started with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. Alec Gonzalez added an RBI single, and Edwin Martinez got an RBI on a ground out. In the bottom of the second, Wolf Pack starter Charlie Nichols was chased after hitting the first batter of the inning, and replaced by Prescott Marsh. Marsh proceeded to hit the first batter he faced, then got Muniz to fly out. Derick Andiarena hit an RBI single, then Max Harper drew a walk to load the bases, and Gonzalez hit an infield fly for the second out. Then Pedro Vasquez hit a grand slam home run well over the left field fence for what became the winning run, and the end of scoring for the Patriots.
The Wolf Pack got three runs back in the top of the third inning. The first run came on a wild pitch. Garrett Felix hit an RBI single, and Cole Romero drew a bases-loaded walk. However, the Wolf Pack left the bases loaded.
The Patriots left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth. Romero led off the top of the sixth with a triple, and scored on a ground out by Jaxon Buratt. That made the score 9-4. The Wolf Pack threatened in the top of the seventh. They had the bases loaded with two outs. Garrett Beadle came on to pinch hit, and he hit a ball to deep center field, but it was caught, and again, the Wolf Pack left the bases loaded.
In the top of the eighth, Felix hit an RBI single with one out. The next batter struck out, then Landon Manson hit a ball to left field that was nearly caught, but it became another RBI single. Then Anthony Fernandez hit a two-RBI double to make this a one-run ball game. However, a ground out ended the inning with the go-ahead run on first. The Wolf Pack went three up three down in the top fo the ninth.
Jake Kmiecik, who took the mound in the third inning, got the win. He pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowed one run on three hits, struck out four. Ben Rohrback, who came in to get the final out of the eighth inning, got a save. Nichols got the loss. Carter Holsten pitched four scoreless innings for the Wolf Pack. Gonzalez finished 3-for-5 with an RBI. Felix finished 3-for-5 with three RBI. box score recap
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