College baseball: No. 1 Southeastern wins NAIA World Series

Robert Magobet, The Ledger
·2 min read
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No. 1 Southeastern won the World Series Friday over Lewis-Clark State. It's the program's second NAIA championship in its history.
No. 1 Southeastern won the World Series Friday over Lewis-Clark State. It's the program's second NAIA championship in its history.

LEWISTON, Idaho — For the second time in program history Southeastern University baseball is top dog after winning the Avista-NAIA World Series championship.

The No. 1 program in the NAIA was able to pick things right back up following a lightning delay in the winner-take-all Avista NAIA World Series championship, eventually winning 11-5 over No. 5 Lewis-Clark State Friday thanks to six runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Southeastern head baseball coach Adrian Dinkel said he didn’t know which championship was sweeter.

“I told our guys that I’m not sure if the first one or the second one feels better, but I feel like this justifies that this is the best team in NAIA history,” Dinkel said.

Southeastern first baseman Gary Lora went 4-for-5 with a home run, an RBI and three runs scored; third baseman Sam Faith was 3-for-5 with three RBI; shortstop Isaac Nunez hit 2-for-5 with an RBI; and catcher Shamir Morales produced a 2-for-2 day with an RBI.

Relieving pitcher Damien Torres collected his third win of the year thanks to his one strikeout, no walks, no earned runs and one hit in 1 1/3 innings. Starting pitcher Drew Gillespie struck out five, walked one and allowed five earned runs, and four hits in four innings.

“I told our coaches I wanted this game, get another shutdown inning for the boys and help us win the national championship,” Torres said. “I just wanted to get out there, pound the zone, and throw strikes."

When Southeastern resumed play on Friday, the bases were already loaded with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh. Outfielder Zach Diewert ended up reaching on an error, which brought home Faith. Morales then sliced an RBI single to right field to bring home Nunez.

The lead increased by five when outfielder Thomas Broyles hit into a fielder’s choice and an errant throw to home allowed Diewert and infielder Jose Marcano to score. Then, a right fielder Abdel Guadalupe sacrifice fly scored outfielder Adrian Mella.

When the final score was official, Southeastern bombarded one another with hugs filled with sheer excitement.

On Thursday, Southeastern was focused on breaking the tie after leading 4-0 early. Nunez then singled to center field to break it.

The Fire (59-4) led 4-0 over LCSC (58-6) thanks to solo jacks by Lora and Guadalupe in the second and third innings. Faith put up a two-run double later on in the third.

Infielder Brian Fuentes earned the tournament MVP thanks to posting a .391 average with five home runs, seven RBI and five walks in six games of World Series tourney action.

“My mentality was to do everything I can and give it all to win the title and I’m glad I did,” Fuentes said. “Without my teammates, I wouldn’t be here."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: college baseball