LEWISTON, Idaho – Seeding made no difference to the Warriors on Wednesday when LC State Baseball punched its ticket to the 2023 Avista NAIA World Series. LC opened the NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round, presented by Avista, as the No. 4 seed and swept its way through the tournament with a 3-0 record.
Alec Holmes was masterful out of the bullpen and the Warriors produced the most lopsided win of the tournament with a 19-7 victory over Concordia Ann Arbor (Mich.).
"Exceptionally gutsy effort by all of our guys," Head Coach
Jake Taylor said. "It took everybody to win tonight."
Carter Booth started the game with a double off the wall in center and took third on a wild pitch.
Sam Olsson walked and was replaced on the base by
Jordan Justice before a single by
Charlie Updegrave knocked in a run.
Isaiah Thomas picked up where he left off last night with an RBI-single, and
Jakob Marquez made it a 3-0 lead with a sacrifice fly.
A pair of walks came back to haunt LC State in the bottom of the first with a Concordia run and
Dallas McGill worked a 1-2-3 second. Back-to-back solo shots by CUAA evened the score 3-3 and
Bryson Spagnuolo was called out of the bullpen to end the frame.
Updegrave made his presence known in the contest as part of the Warriors' five-run fourth inning.
Dominic Signorelli doubled to start the frame and
Leo Rivera added a base hit to put runners on the corners. Booth sent a sacrifice fly to center to plate the go-ahead and a base hit by
Nick Seamons kept the inning going.
A walk to Olsson loaded the bases for one of biggest bats in the tournament in Updegrave. The sophomore crushed a no-doubter over the wall in center for a grand slam to give LC State an 8-3 advantage.
The Cardinals retaliated with a grand slam of their own off the bat of Drew Fleming.
Joe Ball got two quick outs to keep the difference at 8-7 through four innings.
Signorelli added his second double of the game to lead off the fifth and scored on a well-placed double by Booth. The pair of hits pushed the Warrior advantage to 9-7.
Joe Ball threw a scoreless fifth and Olsson led off the sixth with a single through the left side. Updegrave reached on a fielder's choice and Thomas knocked in a run with a base hit. Signorelli pushed the margin to 13-7 with a three-run shot over the scoreboard in right.
Alec Holmes picked up a pair of strikeouts to end the seventh inning and LC added on in the top of the eighth on costly CUAA errors. A throwing error put Marquez on second and he took third on a groundout by Signorelli.
Isaac Haws reached on a hit-by-pitch and both came in on a series of errors after a botched pick-off attempt on Haws at first. Haws went first to home on the play to make 15-7.
LC State added on in the top of the ninth to secure the win. Booth was hit by a pitch to start the final inning and Seamons legged out an infield-single. A double by Olsson plated the pair. Thomas put the final tallies on the board with a two-run shot to make it 19-7.
Holmes shut the door with a pair of strikeouts and pop up to end the contest and send the Warriors to the Series.
Thomas went 4-for-6 at the plate with four RBI. Updegrave had a team-best five RBI on three hits and Signorelli drove in three with his three hits. All three homered.
Spagnuolo earned the win and Holmes earned his first save. Holmes struck out five in 3.1 innings without allowing a hit.
UP NEXT
The Warriors are headed to the 2023 Avista NAIA World Series to compete for the program's 20
th national title. Play begins May 26 at Harris Field.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
