This Week In Warrior Athletics

March 5, 2007

EVENTS: 

Men’s and Women’s basketball: National Tournament field announced, Tuesday, March 6; National Tournament pairings announced, Wednesday, March 7.

Baseball – vs. Concordia, 6 p.m., Friday, March 9; vs. Concordia (2), 1 p.m., Saturday, March 10; vs. Concordia, noon, Sunday, March 11.

Men’s tennis – at Eastern Washington, 9 a.m., Sunday, March 11.

Women’s tennis – at Eastern Washington, 1 p.m., Sunday, March 11. 

Basketball: 

Both Warrior teams will find out their opponents for the first round of the NAIA national tournaments this week.

The NAIA will announce the 32-team fields for both tournaments on Tuesday evening, and then will set the tournament brackets late Wednesday afternoon.

Both tournaments will run March 14-20 with the men’s tournament at Kansas City, Mo., and the women’s tournament at Jackson, Tenn.

The LCSC women were ranked No. 2 in the final regular season poll, but lost a heartbreaker to Carroll College 71-69 in the championship game of the Frontier Conference Tournament. LCSC, which will receive an at-large berth to nationals, was one of four teams ranked in the top eight to lose in their conference tournament and two more still had games remaining Monday night.

Despite the loss, LCSC should remain in the top eight for the tournament rankings and therefore will play a first-round game on March 14. The top eight seeded teams will play on March 14 and, with a win, will have the next day off before resuming play.

The Warrior men were ranked No. 16 in the final poll and won the conference tournament to earn an automatic berth to nationals. Although nine teams ranked ahead of the Warriors lost in their conference tournaments, a few of the matchups had two teams ranked ahead of the Warriors playing for the title. Therefore,  it is unlikely the LCSC men will move into one of the top eight seeds, which means the Warriors would play their opening-round game on March 15.

Both LCSC women’s coach Brian Orr and men’s coach Tim Walker were named the conference’s Coach of the Year, while LCSC forward Mike Gordy and guard Teran Lee shared the men’s MVP award. In all, LCSC had five players earn first-team all-conference honors and three more make the second team.  

Baseball: 

After having their 12-game win streak to open the season snapped, the Warriors look to start another streak when they begin facing fellow NAIA Region I members.

The 12-0 start by the Warriors is the second-best in program history, trailing only the 17-0 start in 1991. Gonzaga, however, put an end to the streak with a 4-3 victory on Sunday in the championship game of the SPORT Banana Belt Tournament.

The Warriors now embark on a different path this season with their schedule.

Because the Warriors receive an automatic berth to the national tournament at LCSC’s Harris Field, the NAIA wanted to make the playing field level by having the Warriors play a league schedule and participate in the NAIA postseason regional and super regional rounds.

So the Warriors will play a 30-game schedule against the five other NAIA Region I teams – three games at home and three away against Concordia, Albertson, British Columbia, Oregon Tech, and Corban. However, even though it is playing a league schedule, it has been decided that all of these games will be counted as nonleague games.

LCSC resumes play at home this week with a four-game series against Concordia of Portland, Ore. The two meet in single games on Friday and Sunday, and a doubleheader on Saturday.

The Warriors have been dominating this season. They have won 11 of their 12 games by at least six runs and are outscoring the competition 123-28. LCSC has a batting average of .323 and an earned run average of 1.80. Opponents have a batting average of .179 off of Warrior pitchers and opposing staffs have an ERA of nearly 9.00.

Two LCSC players in particular have stood out so far. Mark Thompson has made the move from center field to shortstop and is doing a terrific job as the team’s leadoff hitter. He’s batting .477, has an on-base percentage of .596, gone 12-for-13 in stolen base attempts, and leads the team in runs scored with 23.

Third baseman Beau Mills has a team-leading five home runs and most of them have been lengthy shots to right field. Mills is hitting .447 with a team-high 21 RBI. He’s tied with Thompson for the most hits with 21 and is second on the team in runs scored at 19.

First baseman/designated hitter Ikaika Lester also is swinging a hot bat with a .464 batting average.

On the mound, the Warriors still have seven pitchers who have thrown at least two innings and not allowed a run, including right-hander Will Morgan. Morgan (1-0) has made five appearances this season and pitched 17.1 innings. He’s allowed just seven hits and two walks with 18 strikeouts. He also has one save.

Junior right-hander Chris Kissock (3-0) has pitched a team-high 22 innings and has a 0.41 ERA. He’s allowed 12 hits and four walks, and struck out 15.

Chris Schwinden (1-0) has allowed just one hit in his six innings of work.

The Warriors, who won the NAIA title a year ago, are ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll. The first regular-season poll is scheduled to come out this week.

Men’s tennis: 

After taking a big step toward qualifying for the national tournament in May by sweeping regional foe University of Alberta 9-0 twice last weekend, the Warriors will try to pick up their first win against an NCAA Division I opponent this season.

The Warriors, 7-3 on the season, take on Eastern Washington in Cheney on Sunday. LCSC’s three losses have all been to NCAA teams – Idaho, Montana, and Montana State. The Warriors fell to the Vandals 4-3 over the weekend after losing all three doubles matches.

Because the NAIA has adopted a new format this year and will award berths to the national tournament based on the rankings in its polls instead of a year-end regional tournament, the sweeps over Alberta were huge. Those are the only two teams in the region and the top-ranked team in each of the 14 regions will receive an automatic berth to nationals. LCSC and Alberta don’t play again this season, which means Alberta will have to overcome the two 9-0 losses and somehow pass LCSC in the polls.

The Warrior men are ranked No. 16 in the country, while Alberta isn’t ranked. 

Women’s tennis: 

Like the men, the Warrior women’s tennis team is looking for a breakthrough against NCAA Division I teams when they also face Eastern Washington on Sunday.

The LCSC women are 5-2 on the season, losing to Idaho and Gonzaga. The Warriors, ranked No. 17 in the country, however, did pick up three key wins last week, disposing of both Alberta and Albertsons 9-0, and Southern Oregon 8-1. Unlike the men’s side, those are the four women’s teams in the region, which also gives the Warriors’ a huge advantage in the polls and automatic berth to nationals.

The women still have a match later in the season with Albertson in Caldwell. Albertson defeated Alberta 6-3, but lost to Southern Oregon 7-2. That is the Warriors’ lone region match left this season.