May 23—Let’s call it May Madness.
On a day in which the three top seeds who played before them to open the Avista NAIA World Series lost, the third-seeded Lewis-Clark State Warriors failed to buck that trend, falling to the eighth-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs 12-4 on Friday at Harris Field in Lewiston.
“When you’ve had the opportunity to play in postseason games, you know what’s on the line, and you know what it takes to keep advancing,” Tennessee Wesleyan coach Billy Berry said. “The message really wasn’t any different tonight than it was, you know, the last three weeks.”
In the Series for the third straight year, the TWU Bulldogs turned to their ace pitcher, Justin Jackson, to harass the hosts with 6 2/3 three-run innings.
The Warriors, back in the World Series for the first time since 2023, had to wait an extra two hours and 26 minutes to take the field on the heels of a series of marathon games that each lasted around three hours and led to an opening ceremony just after dusk.
In each of those games, the lower seed — No. 7 Mid-America Christian (Okla.), No. 10 William Carey (Miss.) and No. 9 IU Southeast (Ind.) — beat their higher-seeded foes.
With the win, Tennessee Wesleyan will play IU Southeast at 6:30 p.m. Monday.
LC State, meanwhile, faces elimination in an unprecedented meeting with second-seeded Georgia Gwinnett at 6:30 p.m. today.
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Tennessee Wesleyan third baseman Allan Gil Fernandez jolted the crowd awake with a leadoff home run to center field shortly after the 9:26 p.m. first pitch.
It was the second time this postseason that Gil Fernandez had led off a game with a homer.
“He’s an energy guy, and he sets the tone at the top of that order,” Berry said of Gil Fernandez. “Anytime you can get on the board in the first inning, you know, it kind of just relaxes, everybody shoots the energy up a little bit, and you saw that tonight, we were just able to keep it going for nine innings.”
The delay proved not to be a problem for Tennessee Wesleyan, which scored a run in each of the first three innings and in every inning except for the fourth en route to the runaway victory.
The game truly began to unravel in the top of the seventh, when TWU right fielder Kolton Reynolds rocketed a liner to LCSC second baseman Izzy Madariaga, who watched the ball bounce off his glove, permitting Josh Shelly to score from third.
Soon after, second baseman Brayan Espinoza blasted a two-run home run to give the Bulldogs an 8-1 lead, leaving the Warriors with just nine more outs.
TWU’s persistent peppering of base runners forced Lewis-Clark State’s ace pitcher Evan Canfield out of the game after three innings and 57 pitches.
The Bothell, Wash., native turned in a three-inning, three-run, six-hit line with two strikeouts and no walks.
On the bump for the Bulldogs, Jackson used 106 pitches to navigate 6 2/3 innings with three runs allowed off nine hits. He struck out six and walked three, working with remarkable efficiency. Jackson struck out Warrior third baseman Jackson Jaha swinging on three pitches in the first inning and retired Sam Weber looking on a four-pitch at-bat.
LC State’s bats weren’t entirely stagnant, though. In fact, TWU out-hit LC State by just four, 16-12. The Warriors’ production was simply spread out and ill-timed.
The most tragic example of the Warriors’ misfortune came in the bottom of the fourth, when Jackson Reed, who struck out looking to end the first, smacked a comebacker directly to TWU shortstop Rob Gordon, who flipped the ball to second base and turned two.
With the bases freshly cleared, senior center fielder Noah Weintraub smacked a two-out double down the left-field line, with no one on base.
LC State began to manufacture some offense, though, when senior catcher Bulla Ephan, back for his first postseason action after taking a baseball off his hand earlier in the year, wacked a ball into right field. Weintraub attempted to score from second base, but TWU right fielder Kolton Reynolds whipped the ball to catcher Thomas Teel, who patiently waited to apply the tag to a tardy Weintraub.
“They’ve been making plays like that all season,” Jackson said of the fielders around him. “So I don’t expect anything less from my teammates and my defense.”
Jaha slugged a standup triple off the center field wall to score shortstop Payton Smith and put the Warriors on the board and cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 4-1.
However, the Bulldogs bit off four straight runs off of the Warriors’ bullpen to build an 8-1 lead and used a second straight three-run frame and another run in the top of the ninth to cement the final score.
Gil Fernandez paced all batters with a 5-for-6 showing at the plate.
The final out of the game was recorded at 12:34 a.m. Saturday.
Tennessee Wesleyan 111 011 331—12 16 1
Lewis-Clark State 000 010 201—4 12 2
Jackson, Brumley (7), Taylor (8) and Teel; Canfield, Estrada (4), Logan (7), Solomon (9) and Ephan. W — Jackson; L — Canfield.
Tennessee Wesleyan hits — Fernandez 5 (HR, 2 2B), Espinoza 2 (HR, 2B), Reynolds 2 (HR), Gordon 2, Shelly 2, Ballenilla, Wright, Escoto.
Lewis-Clark State hits — Jaha 3 (3B), Johnson 3 (2B), Nguyen 2 (HR), Madariaga (HR), Weintraub (2B), Bidwell, Ephan.
A — 3,216.
Tennessee Wesleyan — 12
Lewis-Clark State — 4
STARS OF THE GAME
Tennessee Wesleyan starting pitcher JUSTIN JACKSON corralled the Warriors for 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball. The Bulldogs’ ace was a dog on the mound.
Tennessee Wesleyan right fielder KOLTON REYNOLDS threw out Noah Weintraub at the plate from right field to bring an end to the fourth inning. Reynolds’ highlight reel throw kept LCSC off the board.
Tennessee Wesleyan slugger ALLAN GIL FERNANDEZ blasted a leadoff home run in the top of the first, setting the tone from the get-go that the Bulldogs were ready to play, even after a 2-hour, 26-minute delay.
QUOTE OF NOTE
“When you’ve had the opportunity to play in postseason games, you know, you know what’s on the line, and you know what it takes to keep advancing.” — Tennessee Wesleyan coach Billy Berry on his message to the team ahead of TWU’s upset victory.