LEWISTON, Idaho - Fifth-seeded Southeastern (Fla.) (56-7) capitalized time and again on well-placed left field hitting in tonight's Avista-NAIA World Series showdown before fending off a ninth-inning Faulkner (54-8) rally to secure the 6-4 victory here at Harris Field.

A run-scoring error put the Eagles on top early in the first inning and Reese Cooley's sacrifice fly gave the nation's top team a 2-0 lead.

The fourth-ranked Fire countered with a sac fly of their own in the ensuing at-bat, however, and tied the contest with another in the the third.

The SEU bats seemed somehow laced with magic throughout the affair as the offense repeatedly executed hitting within a whisper of the left field chalk line.

Keiner Colmenarez tapped into this energy when he catapulted the Fire into a two-run advantage in the fourth frame thanks to a brilliant double that screamed over third base before expelling a small plume of white dust into the air in its wake.

Faulkner cut the deficit in half on an RBI single from Austin Paschke in the sixth, but Marvin Malone reignited the scoreboard for SEU on a single, this time to right field, in the seventh.

The Fire continued to masterfully work the left field line and capped scoring with another double, this time courtesy of Marcus Stump, just inches inside the white in the eighth.

Back-to-back singles from pinch hitter Andrew Carter and Te'kwaan Whyte set the stage for Ryan Rosa's RBI single in the ninth inning before a wild pitch put two runners in the chamber for Cooley just moments later.

The slugger rattled the defense with a strong nine-pitch at-bat, but ultimately fouled out to first base.

"You have to win three games guys and we have pitching left," head coach Patrick McCarthy told his team after the game. "When you have a game where the other team's hits bounce three inches fair and yours land six inch foul, you have to play perfect and still may not win. It's double-elimination for a reason. The best three teams will be left at the end, I guarantee it. We're not done yet."

Tyler Thornton (7-1) carried Faulkner through the first seven innings of play and suffered his first loss of the year after giving up five earned runs on nine hits. The senior had two strikeouts.

Braden Olive surrendered the final run in the eighth.

Whyte and Rosa were both 2-for-5 and had a run and RBI, respectively.

Faulkner will next take on Georgia Gwinnett in elimination-game action tomorrow. The Eagles were 3-1 against the Grizzlies in the regular season. The No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup is scheduled for 1 p.m. central.