| LEWISTON, ID – Never count the Warriors out. Despite the struggles throughout the season, LC State Baseball will play for a national title for the second consecutive year after rolling past William Carey 15-6.
The Warrior offense exploded for six home runs, with two each by Nick Seamons and Isaiah Thomas.
LC State will play on Thursday or Friday with the date and opponent dependent on what happens between Southeastern (Fla.) and Westmont (Calif.).
Joe Ball had the start on the mound and helped the Warriors out of a jam in the first. WCU threatened with the first two runners reaching before groundouts and a strikeout kept the Crusaders off the board.
The Warriors took an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the first. Carter Booth and Sam Olsson both reached via free passes before Isaac Haws took over on the bases for Olsson. Charlie Updegrave sent a double off the wall in right and a sacrifice fly by Thomas plated the second run.
LC State added on in the second with an exclamation point home run by Seamons. Pu’ukani De Sa walked to open the frame and Jakob Marquez singled to put two on. Leo Rivera worked a walk to load the bases before a sacrifice fly by Booth plated a run. Seamons stepped to the plate next and launched a three-run shot into the left field bleachers to make it a 6-0 lead.
Ball worked a 1-2-3 top of the third with two strikeouts, but WCU rallied in the fourth to knock Ball out of the game and bring Jake Green out of the bullpen. The Crusaders batted around to tie the game 6-6.
Thomas put the Warriors back in front with a solo shot, his fourth homer of the Series, and LC added on in the fifth with another blast by Seamons. A catcher’s interference put Rivera on first and a balk moved him to second. He trotted home with Seamons on the two-run bomb to give LC a 9-6 advantage.
Green kept the margin at three with a big strikeout to end the top of the sixth.
Marquez made it a 10-6 lead with a home run to lead off the home half of the sixth inning and Booth added a solo shot of his own just a few minutes later.
The inning continued as a two-out rally with Olsson and Updegrave each drawing a walk. Thomas brought both in with his second home run of the game, a three-run shot, to make it 14-6. Dominic Signorelli singled to right and De Sa doubled to drive in run number 15 for LC State.
Bryson Spagnuolo closed out the contest with two strikeouts in the final two innings. Green earned the win after throwing 3.1 innings of relief. Both Green and Ball struck out three batters.
Thomas led LC with three hits in the game and five RBI. Seamons, Updegrave, Signorelli, De Sa and Marquez each had two hits. Seamons also drove in five runs.
The Warriors will play for a national title later this week. Stay tuned for updates.
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