LEWISTON, Idaho -
Six teams survived to see
another day in the Pacific Northwest at the
2007 Avista-NAIA World Series, as Houston
Baptist (Texas) and Azusa Pacific (Calif.)
survived loser-out contest early in the day
at Harris Field.
APU and HBU will attempt to
keep momentum Tuesday, with first pitch
scheduled in Tuesday's opener scheduled for
11 a.m.
Houston Baptist scored early
and often in its elimination-game win over
Walsh (Ohio), as the Huskies' lead-off
batter Ryan Majewski doubled his home run
total for the season with a pair of big
flies that helped HBU to a 10-5 win. Andrew
Taccolini also belted a homer in the win,
which was delayed for an hour by early
morning showers that passed through the
Lewiston area.
Azusa Pacific won its game by
scoring the first seven runs over the course
of eight innings, while Lee (Tenn.) made
things interesting with four in the ninth to
cut APU's lead to three. Scott Hodsdon, who
had a solo homer to lead off the fourth,
fanned two in the ninth to close the game
and the Cougar victory. Brice Cutspec also
homered for APU, while Elvis Sosa went deep
for Lee.
In the day's third game,
Lindenwood (Mo.) took an early lead that was
quickly erased by Bellevue (Neb.), who
notched a five-run fourth to take a 6-4 lead
in the game. Lindenwood threatened, taking
one run back in the sixth, but Nick Rivera's
two-run homer in the seventh moved the lead
back to 7-5.
Lindenwood struck with two in
the eighth, but Bellevue again answered,
getting two in the bottom of the inning and
holding the Lions in the ninth to win, 9-7.
In the nightcap, Lewis-Clark
State (Idaho) third baseman Beau Mills took
another step toward NAIA history with his
35th home run of the year, leaving him one
shy of Mike Meggers' 36, hit in 1992 at Mary
Hardin-Baylor (Texas). The homer was one of
three for the Warriors, who took a 2-0 lead
in the first and stuck three more on the
board in the fourth.
Mills' solo homer in the
fifth pushed it to 6-0, and the Warriors
tacked on one run in the ninth to complete
the first shut-out in the 2007 World Series.
LCSC starter Matt Fitts
carried a no-hitter into the eighth before
giving up a one-out single to center field.
Fitts' dozen strike outs in the game marked
one of two double digit outings, as APU's
Johnny Bravo fanned 10 Lee Flames in the
day's first game.
Of note in the championship
bracket, Azusa Pacific and Houston Baptist
were paired against one another to avoid a
first-round rematch between Houston Baptist
and Lindenwood, who would have played under
the original bracketed format.
Lindenwood will now take on
Spring Arbor Tuesday at 3 p.m., while
Bellevue and Lewis-Clark State meet as the
tournament's only remaining unbeatens at 7
p.m.