Warriors wrap up West Coast Super Regional title

5-18-07

AZUSA, Calif. – If there were any lingering doubts about the health of Lewis-Clark State College senior first baseman/designated hitter Ikaika Lester (photo), they are gone now. 

Lester drove in six runs and Brad Schwarzenbach temporarily quieted the Azusa Pacific bats long enough for the Warriors to capture the NAIA’s West Coast Super Regional title with a 15-11 win over the Cougars on Friday night. The win gives the Warriors a 2-1 victory in the best-of-three series matching the NAIA’s two top-ranked teams.  

LCSC, the defending Series champion, has been ranked No. 1 all season and improves to 53-5 with the win, while  Azusa Pacific, ranked No. 2 since late March, is 50-8 overall. 

Both teams now head to the 51st annual Avista NAIA World Series, which opens next Friday in Lewiston. The Warriors, by being the host team, were already assured an automatic berth into the tournament but can’t be seeded higher than third. APU is one of three at-large teams to earn a spot along with the seven Super Regional winners. 

The 10 teams for the tournament also include St. Thomas of Florida, Spring Arbor of Michigan, Cumberland and Lee, both of Tennessee, Bellevue of Nebraska, Houston Baptist of Texas, Lindenwood of Missouri, and Walsh of Ohio. Seeding and pairings for the double-elimination tournament will be announced on Sunday. 

The Cougars, who may be the top seed in the Series, gave LCSC fits in the series by scoring the most runs the Warriors allowed this season in each of the first two games. LCSC won the first game 14-11, but APU rolled 16-5 in Thursday’s contest. 

Friday’s game also was a slugfest, early for LCSC, and then late for APU. The Warriors scored four runs in the first, fourth and fifth innings, and added three in the sixth for a 15-3 lead, which at the time seemed insurmountable. APU scored the final eight runs of the game, collecting nine of its 17 hits in the final four innings. 

LCSC started Mike Miller on Friday, but he gave up seven hits and three runs in just 1.2 innings. Schwarzenbach came in and allowed only one hit until the bottom of the sixth when a single and a walk set up a three-run home run by Brice Cutspec. APU added another three runs in the seventh to make it 15-9, and a two-run home run in the ninth made the final. 

Schwarzenbach (pictured left) went 5.1 innings and allowed six hits and six runs, but only three were earned. He walked one and struck out seven. Brian Parker pitched the final two innings and despite allowing the ninth-inning home run, he picked up his ninth save, which sets a school record for most saves in a season. Mark Wooden held the old mark with eight during the 1986 season. 

Lester missed nearly half of the season, including most of the last month with an injury. His status going into last week’s regional tournament was questionable, but he responded. 

Against the Cougars, Lester had a monster series. In Friday’s game, he went 2-for-5 with six RBI and a run scored. Besides the three-run home run in the first, he added a two-run double in the fourth and a sacrifice RBI in the fifth. For the series, Lester went 9-of-15 with 10 RBI and three runs scored. He hit two home runs and a double. 

APU managed to keep the game close early, trailing only 4-3. In the top of the fourth, a hit batter, a single and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Brent Wyatt hit a two-run single, and after Mills was intentionally walked to re-load the bases, Lester singled in two more. 

LCSC made it 12-3 in the fifth when Jessie Mier hit a solo home run to start the inning. A grounder that turned into an error allowed two runs to score, while the final run came in on Lester’s sacrifice fly. 

In the Warrior sixth, two hit batters and a single loaded the bases for Mark Thompson’s two-run single. Zach Evangelho also singled in a run. 

LCSC finished the game with 16 hits. Wyatt and Thompson finished with three hits apiece. 

The Warriors gave up 38 runs in the three contests as APU scored double digits in every game. Prior to the series, the most runs scored against LCSC this season was nine.