Box Score LEWISTON, Idaho – With nearly three weeks until its next game on opening day of the Avista NAIA World Series, this wasn't exactly the way the Lewis-Clark State College baseball team wanted to finish the regular season.
 
Whitworth, an NCAA Division III school from Spokane, used a five-run seventh inning to defeat the Warriors 7-5 in the regular-season finale for both teams at LCSC's Harris Field on Sunday. Whitworth finishes the season 17-20 overall, while LCSC will take a 38-11 record into the Series. The 10-team double-elimination tournament kicks off May 25 at Harris Field.
 
It was a Jekyll and Hyde type of day for the Warriors. They collected 12 hits in the game, but couldn't collect the key one when needed. LC stranded eight on base and also had a couple of mistakes on the base paths.
 
On the mound, starter Tyler Burch showed why he has taken over as ace of the staff with a strong five innings. He allowed four hits and one run with two walks and seven strikeouts. Burch, 9-1 on the season was recently named the NAIA West Pitcher of the Year. Matt Becker and Tanner Simpson also looked strong, but Rian Bassett ran into all sorts of trouble in the seventh and neither he or his defense helped him out of a jam when Whitworth was able to load the bases on three ground balls, none of which left the infield.
 
And the defense, while making some great plays, didn't help Bassett because the Warriors committed two errors in the Pirates' five-run inning.
 
All-in-all, the mixed results didn't exactly leave the Warriors feeling good about things.
 
"Right now, after that showing, it was hard to watch that game for sure," said LCSC senior outfielder Raymond Pedrina, the NAIA West Player of the Year who sat out the two-game series to rest a hand injury. "Just to see no energy out there is kind of upsetting. But the great thing about baseball is there's always the next day."
 
The contest was actually a pretty good pitcher's duel between Burch and Brady Simmelink of Whitworth. Simmelink (4-2) pitched five-hit ball over six innings and allowed just one run and two walks. He also struck out three.
 
Both teams scored a run in the fourth inning. Whitworth sandwiched two singles around a walk before Burch gave up a bases-loaded walk to Ian Surgrue. 
 
LCSC tied the game in the bottom of the inning on Matt Thompson's solo home run, his fourth of the season.
 
The score remained that way until the seventh when Whitworth struck for five runs on four hits, a walk and two errors.
 
An infield single to short, an consecutive throwing errors by third baseman Darren Trainer and Bassett on grounders allowed the Pirates to load the bases with no outs. Leadoff batter Joel Condreay doubled in two runs. After a sacrifice fly brought in a third run, JT Phelan, the brother of LCSC volleyball player Jordan Phelan, singled a run in to make it 5-1. Liam Fitzpatrick's RBI single pushed it to 6-1.
 
The Warriors answered with a run when Riley Way singled and eventually scored on a ground out by Kasey Bailey.
 
After Whitworth scored a run in the top of the eighth to make it 7-2, the Warriors countered with two in the bottom of the inning. Singles by Tyler McDowell, Thompson, Kody Garvin and Thomas Lampkin Jr. produced two runs. With runners on first and second and two outs, Way faced a 3-and-1 count and it appeared the next pitch was outside for ball four. Riley started to first, and the other baserunners started to move up when the home plate umpire made a delayed strike call. Lampkin was then hung up between first and second and was eventually tagged out for the third out of the inning.
 
The Warriors threated again in the ninth when Cody Voss doubled with two outs and scored on a single by McDowell to make it 7-5. With the tying run at the plate, Whitworth was able to escape the jam for the win.
 
McDowell and Thompson each collected three hits and an RBI for LC.
 
The Warriors now will wait to see who the nine winners are from the NAIA opening round tournaments that will be played across the country on May 14-17. Those nine winners will join LCSC for the Avista NAIA World Series. Unless there are several upsets in those tournaments, the Warriors will likely be playing in the late game on May 25, the opening day of the Series.
 
"We might be down right now, but we have time to reflect," Pedrina said.  "Guys have to look really deep inside them right now and find that passion to play baseball. That is the reason why we came to LC. There is a reason why there are so many years on that national championship board (19 national titles). We love the game."