Box Score LEWISTON, Idaho - The three up-the-middle senior starters embraced, each trying to console one another. The tears flowed for catcher Robert Llera, shortstop Edgar Figueroa and centerfielder Chris Madera - their Faulkner careers having come to a close two wins shy of their ultimate goal.
Head coach Patrick McCarthy was right there, offering the emotional support that has become his trademark. The trio had been a part of 100 wins over the past two seasons and a pair of trips here to the Avista-NAIA World Series.
And now it was over.
"I just feel for them, because I know how much they wanted it," McCarthy said. "Those guys are extremely special to me. I love them as if they were my own sons. My heart hurts for them, and our entire team."
Cameron Pongs' two-run single in the bottom of the seventh broke a tie and lifted Lewis-Clark State to a come-from-behind 10-8 victory over the Eagles (51-15), ending their run at another national championship. With the victory the Warriors (45-12) advance to a winner-take-all title game Friday night against St. Thomas (Fla.).
"It was a great year with a great bunch of guys," said a teary-eyed McCarthy, who has now guided the Eagles to four World Series trips in the past five years, which includes the 2013 national championship. "We're so blessed to be able to come to the biggest stage in NAIA baseball and compete for and represent Faulkner. It's a great place to be."
For awhile it looked as if the Eagles would earn another trip to the World Series' final game. Faulkner led 5-0 after two innings, touching up a pair of Lewis-Clark State pitchers for eight hits in their first two at-bats. Madera and Llera each had two hits in the five-run sprint out of the gate, with Madera scoring twice and Llera driving in three.
In the top of their third, however, Beau Kerns took the mound for the Warriors, and things began to shift. Faulkner went down in order in the inning, and Lewis-Clark State got to Eagles' starter Jack Charleston for the first time in the bottom half.
Seth Brown singled in a run, and Ty Jackson doubled in two more to trim the deficit to 5-3. Julian Ramon's sacrifice fly cut it to 5-4 before the tall right-hander could get out of the inning. Faulkner pushed the advantage back to three at 7-4 in the fourth when Cody Sos homered to deep left-center field, and Madera scored again after another base hit with some nifty base running.
The cushion was short-lived.
Cabe Reiten tripled to open the Warriors' half of the fourth and scored on an infield groundout. After Brown was hit by a pitch, Jackson hit a two-run homer to tie the game at 7. It stayed that way until the seventh when Randy Joung's home run put Faulkner back on top 8-7, but again Lewis-Clark had an answer.
Max Whitt homered to lead off the bottom half of the inning off of Faulkner reliever Patrick McGrady, who had relieved Charleston with two outs in the sixth. After McGrady hit the next batter, McCarthy turned to Tylier Campbell, who walked the only batter he faced. Vinny Lujan then entered, and subsequently hit the first batter he saw to load the bases. Warrior pinch hitter Cameron Pongs followed with a single to right that scored the game's decisive runs.
Kerns (12-1), who scattered eight hits and allowed only two earned runs over the last seven innings, earned the victory in this his fourth appearance in the World Series. McGrady, one of five Faulkner pitchers, took the loss. In the game Faulkner pitchers issued seven walks and hit six batters, while the three Lewis-Clark State pitchers didn't issue a single free pass. Four of the Warriors hitters that either drew a walk or were hit by a pitch scored.
Madera and Joung, also a senior, finished the night with three hits apiece, pacing the Eagles' 16-hit attack. Madera hit .523 in the tournament for Faulkner, collecting 12 hits in the Eagles last four games after going hitless in the opening win over Vanguard. Joung's average in Faulkner's five games was .444. Dennis Morton added two hits to finish the tournament with a total of eight and a .380 average.
"We had a great run, no doubt about it," McCarthy said. "A better bounce here or anothere hit there, and things might have turned out differently. I'm so proud of this team, though, for how they battled."
