Frantic Faulkner finish falls just short as LCSC captures title with 12-11 win

LEWISTON, Idaho (faulknereagles.com) – In a power show never before seen in an Avista-NAIA World Series game, it was the Warriors of Lewis-Clark State who had just enough to hold off a gallant Faulkner effort at the finish line. By inches.

The short-handed Eagles fought every step of the way in a game that had a Series-record 11 home runs, but nine runs in the middle innings were too much for Patrick McCarthy’s team to overcome, but just barely. Lewis-Clark State held on for a 12-11 victory here Friday night in front of 5,020 boisterous fans, giving the Warriors their second straight national title and 18th overall. It didn’t come without a lot of late anxiety, however.

This Faulkner team did exactly what it had done all season, refusing to give in until the 27th out was recorded. With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth and trailing 12-8, Faulkner got three base hits and a walk to trim the lead to 12-9. With the bases loaded, Dario Polanco laced a single to left to score two runs to cut the margin to one, but in an effort to get to third base from first the Eagles’ Onix Martinez was called out on a bang-bang play to end the game.

Faulkner hit five home runs – three by Dennis Morton – and Lewis-Clark State blasted six in the biggest slugest in NAIA World Series history. With a pitching staff depleted by injury and suspension, McCarthy had five hurlers give it a go against the Warriors. All battled, but big innings in the fifth, sixth and seventh spelled doom to the Eagles’ effort to capture its second national championship in the past four seasons.

Back-to-back homers in the top of the second by J.J. Robinson and Micah Brown off of Faulkner starter Miguel Castellanos staked the Warriors to a 2-0 lead, but Morton’s two-run homer in the bottom half tied it. The fourth brought more back-and-forth action, with Tyler McDowell’s RBI single putting LCSC back ahead only to have Faulkner’s Nick Cain deadlock it again with an opposite-field homer to right.

The Warriors (52-8) seemed to take control in the fifth when Series most valuable player Jacob Zanon hit a three-run homer to give the hosts a 6-3. Back came Faulkner again, however. With two on, T.J. Condon homered to left-center as the stunned biased crowd saw the Eagles tie it at 6. Morton followed two outs later with a solo homer and Faulkner grabbed its first lead of the night.

The Warriors regained the lead with a four-run uprising in the sixth. Gunnar Buhner doubled in two runs, and Julian Ramon followed with a two-run homer as LCSC grabbed a 10-7 advantage. Brown hit his second home run of the game, which was followed by a solo shot from McDowell to increase it to 12-7. Morton’s third homer in the bottom of the seventh trimmed it to 12-8, setting the table for arguably the wildest final at-bat in championship game history.

It started quietly with Quin Grogan, the third Lewis-Clark State pitcher, striking out Condon and Mario Amaral to open the inning. With the Warrior fans on their feet, the Eagles refused to surrender. A base hit by Deivy Palmeiro was followed by a walk to Morton. Cain and Martinez contributed back-to-back singles to trim the lead to 12-9, leaving the bases loaded. Polanco followed with a sharp single to left-fielder Zanon, who got the ball in to shortstop Cabe Reiten as Martinez headed to third. Reiten turned and fired the ball to Robert Smith, whose tag was just in time to cut down Martinez to end it.

The Eagles ripped 17 hits in the game, leaving it with a combined 60 hits in the past four nights. Polanco, Morton, Cain and Martinez all had three hits apiece, while Palmeiro added two. Brandon Suttles, the second Faulkner pitcher, took the loss, while Grogan survived to earn his second win of the week over the Eagles. He tossed seven shutout innings in Monday’s 3-0 walk-off win, which sent Faulkner to the losers’ bracket. Three straight victories set up the rematch, which will long be remembered in Avista-NAIA World Series lore.

Polanco, Morton, Cain, Condon and pitcher Ivan Pelaez were selected to the All-World Series Team.