LEWISTON, Idaho – The Warriors hit a bump in the road against top-seeded Southeastern (Fla.) on Tuesday night, falling to the Fire 9-4 in the 2022 Avista NAIA World Series. LC State will take on LSU Shreveport in an elimination game on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Riley Way finished the night a double shy of the cycle.
"Obviously not the outcome we were looking for tonight," Head Coach
Jake Taylor said. "Disappointing as we didn't play our best. We need to have a short memory and come ready to play tomorrow."
Eric Chavarria retired the first two Fire players of the contest, but a two-out Southeastern rally put the Warriors in an early 1-0 deficit. The Fire added another in the second and third to push the difference to 3-0.
Way put his hometown team on the board with a solo shot to right to lead off the home half of the third.
Drake Borschowa, on in relief, worked a scoreless fourth and gave LC the opportunity to even the contest in the bottom of the frame.
Zach Threlfall wore a pitch to put courtesy runner
Coy Stout on base. A walk to
Nick Seamons was followed by a sacrifice bunt by
A.J. Davis, and an RBI-groundout by
Pu'ukani De Sa made it a one-run difference. Seamons evened things up when he scored on a wild pitch.
The Fire regained the lead in the next half inning with a two-run blast, then added on with a three-run shot in the sixth. Another run in the seventh made it 9-3 in favor of SEU.
A bases-loaded walk plated Linscott in the bottom of the seventh, but the Warriors could not catch the Fire and fell 9-4.
Way led LC State with four hits including a single, triple and home run. Linscott tallied three hits.
Chavarria tossed 2.2 innings and surrendered three runs, Borschowa gave up five in three, and
Bryson Spagnuolo and
Lucas Gregory finished out the game.
LC State will take on fourth-seeded LSU Shreveport on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in an elimination game. The Fire will face second-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan at 6:30 p.m.
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