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June 1, 2011
Contact: Amanda Dahl, NAIA
Manager of Sports Information & Media
Services,
adahl@naia.org
LEWISTON, Idaho -
Senior left-hander Shay Crawford pitched
a one-hitter for his second strong
outing of the tournament to help Lee
(Tenn.) remain alive with a 1-0 win over
Lubbock Christian (Texas) at the Avista-NAIA
World Series at Harris Field on
Wednesday.
Crawford, who hails from Bartlett,
Tenn., became the first pitcher in 25
years at the World Series to toss a
one-hitter. The last one-hitter was by
Bret Haley of Grand Canyon (Ariz.) who
defeated Missouri Southern in 1986. Rick
Riddle of Wilmington (Del.) threw a
no-hitter in 1992.
Crawford's big performance helped Lee
(51-13) remain alive in the
double-elimination tournament, while
Lubbock Christian (49-13) suffered its
first loss. The two teams will play
again on Thursday at 7 p.m. PDT with the
winner facing Concordia (Calif.) at 7:10
p.m. on Friday for the National
Championship. Concordia, which defeated
LSU Shreveport (La.) 8-4 in Thursday's
first game, earned the bye on Thursday
and a ticket to the title game.
Crawford, who struck out 15 in
eight-plus innings on May 29 in a
no-decision against LSU Shreveport,
picked up where he left off in that
game. Lubbock Christian came into
Wednesday's game leading the tournament
in hitting, but managed only a single by
David Cruz with two outs in the fifth
inning for its lone hit. The Chaps left
seven runners stranded on base.
Crawford (11-2) struck out a dozen
and also walked two and hit two batters.
He faced 34 batters and recorded eight
fly outs and seven ground outs to go
along with the 12 strikeouts. His final
pitch count was136.
Chaps left-hander Lucas Whitmore
(10-3) also threw a complete game. He
allowed nine hits, but only three after
the third inning. He struck out six and
hit one batter with his 129-pitch
effort.
The game's lone run came in the
second inning. After Lee collected three
hits, but failed to score in the first,
the Flames put together small ball to
produce the run. Justin Marrero singled
to start the bottom of the second and
moved up a base on a bunt single by Seth
Walker. A sacrifice bunt by Preston
Scoggins put runners on second and
third, and a ground out by Travis
Anderson scored Marrero.
Marrero finished with two hits in the
game and Roberto Reyes had the only
extra-base hit of the game with a
triple.
It's the third consecutive year Lee
and Lubbock Christian have faced each
other at the World Series. Lee won 7-6
last year and Lubbock Christian won 11-0
in 2009.
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