LEWISTON, Idaho—The Southeastern pitching staff came up with some big outs to strand 13 Lewis-Clark State baserunners and come away with a 9-5 victory over the Warriors at Harris Field to guarantee a spot in the championship game.
Southeastern improved to 57-3 on the season and has now won 20 consecutive games and is 10-0 in postseason play. The Fire picked up a two-out RBI single by
Sam Faith for his 12
th of the postseason to take the early lead.
Starting pitcher
Bryce Moyle faced some adversity in his first inning when the Warriors (56-6) loaded the bases with nobody out on a single, walk, and an error to start the inning. An infield fly, strikeout, and fly out to foul territory ended the threat.
"A lot of it was just flat out competing," said coach
Adrian Dinkel. "Offensively we went up there and had a good approach and obviously Moyle goes out there and does a great job and puts up some zeros. At the end of the day, it's just a group effort of competing and not worrying about the big stage."
Abdel Guadalupe had his 10
th postseason RBI in the second, brining home
Jose Marcano on a single up the middle with two outs to put the Fire up 2-0. In the third
Brian Fuentes hit a ground ball down the third base line which looked like it was going to be a double, but the ball was ruled foul. Fuentes later in the at bat drilled a ball over the right field wall to put the Fire up 3-0 for his 16
th postseason homer and second of the World Series.
The Warriors tied the game by getting a solo homer in the third, and two runs on no hits in the fourth by scoring on a wild pitch and RBI groundout.
Stephen Cullen recorded his second homer of the series with a two-run jack to center in the fifth to make it 5-3.
LCSC also had the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth with one out but a strikeout by Moyle and a fielder's choice groundout ended another threat.
Isaac Nunez hit a three-run homer to center in the sixth to extend the lead to five and
Thomas Broyles hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it 9-3.
In the seventh, it was
Ronnie Voacolo's turn to get out of a tough spot with the bases loaded and one run already in. Voacolo got a strikeout against the first hitter he faced, then an infield fly, and a groundout to first base to end the inning.
Moyle earned his third postseason victory in as many appearances by throwing 125 pitches over six innings and recording five strikeouts and four walks. The grad transfer from nearby Washington State allowed four runs on eight hits. Voacolo picked up his fourth save in as many chances this postseason by working three innings with one run on three hits allowed with four strikeouts.
"Bryce early in the game was using the changeup and slider a lot and the off-speed was great for him," said catcher
Shamir Morales. "With Ronnie, he just came out and threw strikes and did what he's done all year."
At the plate, Fuentes was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two walks. Guadalupe and Nunez had two hits each.
By virtue of being the only 3-0 team among the four teams remaining in the double-elimination tournament, Southeastern is assured of a trip to the final game.
Southeastern will play Tennessee Wesleyan Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. Eastern. With a win, Thursday's game will be the championship.
