WARRIORS WIN 10TH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

JUPITER, Fla. -- Lewis-Clark State College's baseball team captured its 10th NAIA World Series championship since 1984 as the Warriors downed Albertson, Idaho, 7-2 Monday, May 31 at Roger Dean Stadium.

The Warriors completed a 57-14 season with the win, their seventh over Albertson in 10 games this season. Albertson entered the season as the defending national champion.

The Warriors were pushed to an extra championship game when they were dealt a 2-1 defeat by Albertson on Sunday, May 30.

But in the "if necessary" championship game, Lewis-Clark State erased an early 2-0 deficit and scored five times in the sixth inning to take a 7-2 lead. Neither team scored from that point on.

Junior left-hander John Foster, who beat Albertson four times during the season, picked up the win in relief.

Warriors Ryan Baerlocher, Clint Cameron, Chad Kline and Jason Ellison were named to the all-tournament team, and Ellision, L-C's left fielder, was named the tournament's most valuable player. Warrior coach Ed Cheff was given the Sears Coach of the Year Award following the game.

The top-ranked and top-seeded Warriors opened tournament play on Tuesday, May 25, after drawing a first-round bye. They thumped Culver-Stockton, Mo., 14-0 behind a fantastic pitching performance by Cameron. A six-run first inning got the Warriors off and running.

After a tournament off-day on Wednesday, LCSC belted Bellevue, Neb., 9-4 in a highly anticipated matchup. The Bruins entered the game 60-9 but were handed their 10th defeat of the season by the Warriors. One day later, Bellevue was eliminated by Culver-Stockton.

On Friday, the Warriors defeated Albertson 7-3 behind Foster's pitching. That left the Warriors as the only undefeated team in the tournament and set up a battle against Birmingham-Southern, Ala. Saturday night.

In that contest, Baerlocher shut the Panthers out while striking out 10 in a 3-0 Warrior win. That win, coupled with Albertson's elimination of Culver-Stockton, set up the championship game between two teams -- five hours apart -- that traveled a total of 29 hours to south Florida.

Rain intervened before and during Sunday's game. The game began 1 hour and 1 minute late, at 2:01 Eastern Time, and was not completed until 7:55 Eastern Time. The Coyotes yielded just one Warrior run in the game and forced the extra title game with a 2-1 win.

Bright, sunny skies and windy conditions greeted the teams on Tuesday, and Albertson quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Warriors got on the board in the third and tied the game in the fourth. Then in the sixth, LCSC plated five to take the lead for good.

Foster, who entered the game in the fifth, shut the Coyotes down the rest of the way. When Albertson's Erik Remington bounced out to Warrior second baseman Kurt Koshelnik to end the game, the familiar Warrior dogpile ensued near the mound.

Pitching was the key for the Warriors as the staff gave up just five earned runs in 54 innings, an 0.83 ERA over six games.

The championship was the 10th for LCSC, and a 1999 banner will join banners from 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1996 on the wall in Warrior Gymnasium.

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Revised: January 29, 2009