Results from Day 6 of the NAIA Baseball National Championship in Lewiston, ID:
Lewis-Clark State 7, Lee 6
The Lee Flames were one out away from their first-ever national championship, but 3B Kyle Greene hit a two-RBI double to tie the game at 6, and C Brian Ward followed with a double to bat in Greene and the winning run.
Matt Fitts pitched a complete game for the Warriors. He threw 118 pitches, allowed four earned runs on nine hits, walked one, and struck out ten.
The Warriors scored first on a home run by Ward in the top of the third. The Flames answered with a two-RBI double by C Chris Dubon in the bottom of the third. Ward hit another home run in the sixth, but the Flames took a 6-2 lead in their half of the sixth on a three-run home run by 1B Chris Warters, followed by a home run by Dubon.
Flames starter Dave Mason gave way to Jeff Ibarra in the top of the seventh. He didn’t finish the inning. He hit the first batter he faced, 2B Josh Ashenbrenner. RF Chris Valencia got a hit. Mason was replaced by Pablo Lopez. He was greeted with a single by CF Paul Martin, scoring Ashenbrenner. The next batter, Greene, hit a ground ball that resulted in Martin being tagged out between first and second, but Valencia scored on the play. That cut the Flames’ lead to 6-4, setting up the dramatic ninth-inning finish.
This was Lopez’ third appearance of the tournament. He allowed one run in a complete game against Bellevue, and pitched three scoreless innings against L-C State on Tuesday. The loss in this game was his first of the season.
Fitts will go into the MLB draft with a record of 13-0, 2.97 ERA.
DH Sean Halton finished 3-4 for the Warriors, Ward was 3-5 with two home runs and a double. Warters and Dubon were both 2-4 with a home run and three RBI.
Attendance: 4,915
Story from NAIA site: Championship Game No. 1 Goes in Favor of Lewis-Clark State, 7-6
In other news…
The NAIA announced today that Lewis-Clark State will be hosting this tournament through the 2012 season. Official NAIA press release: AVISTA-NAIA World Series Contract Extended With Lewis-Clark State
Schedule for Friday, May 30:
7:05 PM PDT: Lee vs. Lewis-Clark State
This will really be the last game.
All games are webcast by KOZE Radio (audio and free) and watchnaia.com (video and $6.95/game). Live stats are available for all games at CSTV Gametracker.
