LEWISTON, Idaho—For the first time in six appearances, Southeastern lost its first game of the Avista NAIA World Series with a 5-3 loss in 11 innings Saturday night to ninth-seeded Arizona Christian.
The top seed in the tournament got a solo home run from Cristipher Munoz in the third and an RBI single to right field by Munoz in the fifth to take a 2-0 lead. On the mound,
Darien Smith cruised through the first five innings, allowing just one hit.
Smith did not factor into the decision, finishing with four strikeouts over seven innings of work.
In the sixth, Arizona Christian got a leadoff infield single which was followed by a walk and a dropped infield fly allowed runners to advance. An RBI groundout and a single to left field tied the game. The Firestorm took their first lead in the top of the eighth on a two-out RBI single.
Southeastern turned potential disaster into the game-tying run with one out in the ninth when
Landrey Wilkerson looked like he was about to be picked off but a throwing error to third base allowed him to come home when the ball went out of play.
The Firestorm got a two-out RBI single to left to regain the lead in the 11
th and added a run on a wild pitch. Southeastern was retired in order in the bottom of the inning.
Munoz and
Alfonso Villalobos led the offense with two hits each.
The Fire will face third-seeded University of the Cumberlands on Monday at 11:35 a.m. Eastern in an elimination game.
