Results from day two of the NAIA Baseball National Championship in Lewiston, ID:
Belhaven 3, Lubbock Christian 2
Cal Baptist 10, Tennessee Wesleyan 3
Cumberland 9, Embry-Riddle 1
Lewis-Clark State 10, Point Loma Nazarene 5
Belhaven 3, Lubbock Christian 2 (Lubbock Christian eliminated)
The Blazers pulled off a major upset in their first trip to the Baseball National Championship, and the defending champions went two-and-out in two one-run games. The Chaparrals held the Blazers to five hits, but three of them were home runs.
Three Belhaven pitchers, Chris Bennett, Paul Faulkenberry, and Wade Broyles, combined to hold the Chaparrals to six hits. Bennett started and went 5 2/3 innings, was charged with both of the Chaparrals’ runs, and struck out six. Faulkenberry got a popup after entering the game to end the sixth inning, and got a big strikeout of the Chaps’ best hitter, C Joe Staley, to end the seventh inning.
The Blazers got the early lead with a home run by 3B Craig Dean in the second, and a first-pitch home run by RF Drew Dillard in the third. The Chaps tied it in the sixth with a two-RBI double by 2B Richard Bohlken.
The Blazers got the winning run on a home run by C Derek Tortorich, on the very first pitch thrown by reliever Hunter Scott, in the top of the eighth inning. The Chaps got the tying run as far second in the bottom of the eighth, but went three-up, three down in the bottom of the ninth.
Chaps starter Frank Corrolla allowed three hits in seven innings; two of the hits were the Dean And Dillard home runs. Dean and Dillard both had two hits in the game, and Bohlken had two hits for the Chaparrals.
NAIA press release: Belhaven Makes History, Eliminates Defending National Champion Lubbock Christian
Cal Baptist 10, Tennessee Wesleyan 3 (Tennessee Wesleyan eliminated)
Taylor Siemens got the third complete game of this tournament, and although
the Lancers trailed 1-0 in the early going, the Golden State Athletic Conference
champions got an easy win.
Siemens threw 102 pitches, allowed eight hits, struck out nine.
The Lancers got the winning run in the fourth inning when LF Ryan Douglass scored on a wild throw. They got three more runs in the fourth, and put the game away with two more in the sixth.
3B Brian Sharp also had a big game for the Lancers; 4-5 with four RBI. 1B Brad
Pippa hit a home run for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs got an easy win in their first game in Lewiston since 2007. They got on the board in the second inning with a sacrifice fly by CF Dave Weyer, and got the winning run in the fourth when courtesy runner Jason Frost scored on an error.
The only Eagle run came on a home run in the fifth inning by 3B Steve Sabins. Bulldog starter Aaron Wilkerson held the Eagles to four hits in eight innings, struck out 13. The Sabins home run was the only time the Eagles had a runner past second base.
3B Matt Greener and C David Fanshawe hit home runs for the Bulldogs. Greener went 2-4 with three RBI, and Fanshawe went 2-3 with two RBI.
Justin Zinkovich got the loss for the Eagles.
Lewis-Clark State 10, Point Loma Nazarene 5
The Sea Lions took an early 3-0 lead on RBI singles by RF Steven Winnick and C Drew Bernhard, and a sacrifice fly by CF Allen Boyer in the top of the fourth. The #1-ranked Warriors answered with a solo home run by SS Josh Ashenbrenner in the bottom of the fourth, followed by seven runs in the bottom of the fifth, including a solo home run by C Kawika Emsley-Pai and a three-run home run by CF Todd Muecklisch.
Tyler Knigge started for the Warriors, and recovered from the shaky third inning to go 5 2/3 innings, allowed six hits and struck out six. Sea Lions starter Brandon Dixon got his first loss of the season. Knigge is 9-0, and Dixon is 10-1.
Muecklisch was 3-5 for the game.
Attendance: 4,095
First-hand reports on this tournament start on Monday.
Schedule for Monday, May 31 (all times PDT):
8:30 AM: Embry-Riddle vs. Belhaven
noon: Point Loma Nazarene vs. Cal Baptist
3 PM: Oklahoma City vs. Cumberland
7 PM: Lee vs. Lewis-Clark State
All games are webcast by KOZE Radio (audio and free) and watchnaia.com (video and $8.95/day, or $24.95 for the series). Live stats are available for all games at Dakstats.
