Box Score LEWISTON, Idaho - Faulkner put together enough of an offensive flurry as Antonio Frias shut down the No. 1 offense in the country and propelled the Eagles to a 4-0 victory over No. 3 seeded Lewis and Clark State in the first round of the Avista NAIA World Series Friday.

Faulkner hung three runs on the board in the top of the second inning, chasing LCSC starter Eric Chavarria after just an inning and two-thirds. Isaac Phillips stroked a solo homer for the first run of the game. The blast took Phillips' postseason RBI total up to 18. John Michael Mathews followed with a base hit and scored on Justin Lara's RBI single to left-center. Justice Lucas walked and scored on Sam Anthony's sacrifice fly to put the Eagles up 3-0. 

From there, Frias went to work. After a 1-2-3 second inning, the Warriors put the first two hitters aboard in the third. Frias took the sacrifice bunt for the first out and sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around an intentional walk to slugger Brock Ephan to get out of the jam. 

Frias put together an eight-pitch effort in a clean fourth inning before working out of more trouble in the fifth. Dalton Harum's leadoff single gave LCSC hope in front of its home crowd before a trio of groundballs nullified the budding threat. 

Ephan started the sixth by launching a 1-1 offering to deep right where Lara rapidly closed on the ball and managed an acrobatic snag for the first out. Emotions intensified on the second out as Aidan Nagle stepped on the plant foot of Frias, who was covering the bag at first on a routine play. As Patrick McCarthy and trainer Megan Maxwell checked on the suddenly limping Frias, he walked off the ailment and returned to the mound. After missing the zone with the first pitch to the next batter, Frias used the next three to record the swinging strikeout and glared into the Warrior dugout as he exited the field. 

Trouble arose in the seventh after Frias fanned the first batter of the inning and got the second to fly out to center. Harum took a hit-by-pitch. Riley Way singled to left. Jack Johnson absorbed a beanball and LCSC found itself with the go-ahead run at the plate and two away. Frias threw the first pitch past LCSC's Dillon Plew for a strike before inducing a foul ball on the second pitch. The Panamanian southpaw then lived up to his "Papi Punchout" moniker yet again when he got Plew to chase strike three to squelch the charge. 

Shawn Ross gave his team some insurance when he sent the first pitch of the eighth some 440 feet over the centerfield batter's eye for the 4-0 lead. Undaunted, LCSC made one more run at breaking through against Frias in the home half of the frame. 

Ephan and Nagle each singled to start the inning as Frias's pitch count ascended well into the triple digits. The senior lefty then fell behind Luke White 3-0 and looked destined to bring the tying run to the plate as the Faulkner bullpen scrambled to ready itself. Frias then went climbed out of the 3-0 hole and struck out White looking before doing the same to each of the next two hitters. He ended his night 13 strikeouts and six hits allowed in eight shutout innings of work. July Sosa came out of the bullpen to pitch the ninth, working out a hit-by-pitch to strand the 13th LCSC runner of the ball game and preserve the shutout. 

Frias (12-0) broke the program record for single season strikeouts by lifting his 2021 K total to 132. The previous record belonged to Thomas Dorminy, who fanned 131 batters in teh 2014 season. The outing leaves his career mark at 294. Friday's contest marked the first shutout in an NAIA World Series game since 2016. It was the first time LCSC has suffered a shutout since Feb. 22, 2015 when the Warriors lost 5-0 to NCAA Division II foe Western Oregon. The last NAIA school to shut out the Warriors was Cumberland in the 2014 championship game. 

The win moves Faulkner to Game 12 Monday at 8:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time when it will face the winner of No. 2 seed Central Methodist and No. 7 seed IU Southeast. Had the Eagles lost, they'd have been forced to play in an elimination game Saturday.