LEWISTON, Idaho -- The fifth-seeded Southeastern Fire saw their unbeaten run at the Avista NAIA Baseball World Series come to an end Wednesday evening, falling 17-7 to 10th-seeded William Carey in the winner's bracket final at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho.

William Carey struck quickly and never relinquished control, scoring four runs in the opening inning and adding two more in the second for a 6-0 advantage. The Crusaders capitalized on early walks and defensive miscues before Hays Carley delivered a two-run double in the first inning.

The Fire began to chip away in the third. Jace Essig reached after being hit by a pitch before Cade Parry and Cooper Ciesielski followed with consecutive hits. Ciesielski's RBI double brought home the first SEU run, and Charlie Collins added a sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to 6-2.

William Carey answered immediately in the bottom half with its biggest inning of the night. After two quick outs, the Crusaders strung together four consecutive RBI hits before Jayden Mark launched a three-run homer to left field, pushing the lead to 11-2.

Southeastern continued to battle offensively throughout the evening. The Fire scored twice in the fourth as Essig and Parry each collected RBI singles, then added another in the fifth when David Flores doubled home Collins after Collins stole third base earlier in the frame.

The Fire narrowed the gap to 11-7 in the sixth inning. Essig singled and Ciesielski walked before Collins lined a two-run double into left center. The ball skipped away from the William Carey shortstop, allowing Collins to advance to third on the error.

That momentum was short-lived as William Carey responded with six runs in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by a Tyler Ducksworth solo homer and a two-run single from Mark.

Despite the loss, Southeastern matched William Carey with 14 hits. Parry led the Fire offensively by going 3-for-5 with an RBI, while Essig finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Collins drove in three runs and doubled twice, while Ciesielski and Nathanial Hopkins each added two-hit performances.

William Carey's offense produced 17 runs on 14 hits, including five RBIs from Mark and three RBIs from Carley.

Austin Peddycoart took the loss for Southeastern after allowing four runs in the opening inning. Grant Trentmann and Griffin Shearon combined for 4.2 innings in relief before Aron Harrington worked the sixth.

SEU (45-17) now moves to the elimination semifinal where it will face eighth-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET. The start time was moved up to accommodate potential storms forecasted for Thursday evening in the Lewiston area.